We are all transfixed. The transformation of John McEnroe is complete. From unwanted white New York trash as 1981 champion to BBC commentator in 2000 seemed heady enough. But yesterday's knock around with Bjorn Borg on a specially constructed court in the grounds of Buckingham Palace . . . how would the American have put it? "For Chrissakes."

Having affected the most complete image make-over known to public relations since Mike Tyson found Mao (before finding Tyson again) anything is now possible as Pete Sampras' opposition Justin Gimelstob also demonstrated. Gimelstob was the reigning champion's third-round fodder.

A fellow American, he first came to prominence when he leapt, fist pumped and turned his bazooka eyes on anyone who dared look at him at the US Open. Bringing to the Centre Court a reputation for tasteless histrionics to meet the peerless Sampras grass game, Gimelstob behaved like an usher at the Buckingham Palace sideshow.

Sampras, carrying an injury, had not picked up a racquet for two days before the match, preferring to reduce the swelling in his inflamed tendon with rest and treatment. The first set showed as much as he lost 2-6. But the groove came, the smooth-action serve found its range and Gimelstob wilted as Sampras ran out the 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 winner. He now faces Jonas Bjorkman.

"It was sore," said Sampras about his foot. "I just need to find a way of playing on it. I've been trying everything - anti-inflamatory, ice. But when you get out there the adrenaline kicks in."

That sort of natural fight-or-flight response will be what Mark Philippoussis will be asking from his body after a five-hour five-minute marathon against Sjeng Schalken. In the longest match in the Open era, the Australian survived the fifth set, which lasted two hours and 15 minutes, to win 20-18 and he now meets England's Tim Henman.

Henman has been largely left alone by the media. Having departed the two warm-up tournaments at Queens and then Nottingham in the first round, he has been well near picked to the bone. Perhaps the Wimbledon preamble was a wake-up call as he has cruised through his first three rounds.

"I've got to stay strong. He knows I'm tired. I know he's tired," said Philippoussis "It's pretty much when it gets to that situation (five-hour match), I think the guy who (wins) wants it more and is a little tougher mentally and physically."

Henman, a basic serve-volley player, will have to first find a way around the enormous Philippoussis serve. Against Schalken he hit 44 aces, just two short of the record for a match. "I'm a little disappointed," said the Australian. "I hit 43 aces in a three-set match. I'm actually quite disappointed with 44."

Such issues rarely revolve around the game of second seed Andre Agassi, who was grateful he was not detained for more than three sets against Jason Golmard. Agassi came out of a match he should never have against Todd Martin to consolidate his position. But at 30 the former champion is still measuring out the tournament in terms of playing and recovering.

"It's nice to have the days off in the Slams to recover," he said. "I think that's more important for guys that have been around a while. I do feel like it's tougher. I mean it gets tougher every day."

Agassi who, like Martina Hingis, Jelena Dokic, the Williams sisters and Jennifer Capriati, faces a regular barrage of questions relating to his private life, fended of a rumoured engagement to former champion Steffi Graf. Agassi is now 30 and has already been married while Dokic, is 17 and lives with her family.

The American's dimissal of the question and his attitude towards what is written about him was less of an overnight conversion and more a lesson in maturity. "Overall you ultimately take it with a grain of salt and realise that anybody who would believe them (media stories) would never be of such consequence in our lives that it should be concerning," he said.