Tennis/Wimbledon 2004:   In comic book Wimbledon - where the players are occasionally presented by the media as over-blown caricatures and some actually are over-blown caricatures - it seems fitting to announce to the world that American second seed Andy Roddick will take on Billy Whizz in the summer edition of the Beano.

Billy Whiz plays to type, lightening fast and furious around the court as Roddick parachutes out of an aeroplane and bombards Whizz's head with serves from high altitude. Order your Beano summer edition, or, watch Tim Henman. Either way it's a blast, it's a roller coaster ride.

Both Roddick and Henman would have gotten a glimpse of each other yesterday across the expanse of the draw.

Semi-final opponents in the making, Henman's clowning and initial play bordering on self parody as a man unable to shoulder pressure lasted for just two sets, a tie-break win in the second saving him from going two sets down and sparing his blushes.

Henman faced Ruben Ramirez Hildalgo, a clay court player, who had never before competed on grass and was playing in only his fourth Grand Slam event, not having won a match in any.

The people rolled up and Henman delivered. The first set was the equivalent of a bucket of paint falling on his head. The second was a pillow bursting after he'd fallen head first into a jar of honey.

The marginal tie-break in which the Spaniard had two set-points, turned in the tense, fraught, uncertain Henman's favour. He levelled 1-1 and went on to "knock the stuffing" out of Hildago 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, 6-2.

Roddick, although playing just a cameo role yesterday, was in kick-ass Rottweiller form and attempted to quickly savage Taipei's Yeu-Tzuoo Wang, Henman the sheep dog, shepherding points, turning his man.

It was quite a contrast, the American bombastic and high volume, trying to overpower his 181-ranked opponent with the vast energy and ferocity of his game, Henman's more classical approach choreographed and inch perfect, at least in the final two sets. His game was a dissection, a series of set-piece moves designed to put him at the net, in control. But that aspect of his play missed the early bus, and arrived only after one hour and 40 minutes.

The first set perished for him when Hildalgo constructed three break-points, Henman missing a volley at the net for the first service break. The crowd had already begun to nervously murmur a distinct alarm call to their man, another volley into the net for the first set reassuring them that their early warning instincts had been correct.

Henman lost his serve, regained it and took the second set to a tie-break, rescued two set-points and finally wrestled control of the match from the 25-year-old, a mishit forehand from the Spaniard arching over the baseline.

That seemed to kick Henman into a higher level and in the third set he took off where he should have started at the first.

"These are the matches, where I'm struggling with my timing and not playing as well as I'd like and he's hitting some great returns and making life difficult," said Henman. "These are the ones that you've got to find a way to get through. In the past I could have gotten a bit frustrated but today I never felt the result was going to be in doubt."

First chapter of a long runner.

Marat Safin, seeded 19, appeared peculiarly puzzled and interminably frustrated following his 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 defeat by Russian compatriot Dmitry Tursunov.

While no one really believes the surly giant Safin, when he reluctantly arrives after a whipping to try to explain the event and what's on his mind, this time, Wimbledon's uneven grass surface seems to have entirely punctured his confidence.

"I didn't feel like . . . playing. I didn't feel like . . . I couldn't . . . I didn't," said Safin. "I don't feel like I'm moving. Every time I don't know how it's gonna bounce. So it's like a nightmare for me. So after a while I just get bored. I lost complete motivation and I give up. I hate this. I hate this. No, I give up on Wimbledon. It's definitely not the tournament for me."

Although he won the first set 6-4, 21-year-old Tursunov turned the match around as Safin prowled and growled about the court, no doubt cursing his wretched Russian luck, his terrible life and why the world is entirely against him.

It could have been worse. Roddick disappeared at 4-2 up against Wang when the rain began to fall again. Just getting some rhythm on his serve and beginning to look as though he had his unarmed opponent a little frazzled and wounded, the American was forced off court as the forecast rain arrived.

There he stayed as the weather continued to pitch and roll the schedule, but, Safin aside, the seeds hold firm.

As for the outcome of the match between Roddick and the legendary Billy Whizz?

Buy the Beano.