NOTEBOOK Courtside
Fighting through injury: Justine Henin-Hardenne is thankful she has a one-handed backhand shot. The French Open champion won her first-round match against Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine 7-5, 6-1 on Tuesday with her left hand and two fingers strapped because of an injury. Henin-Hardenne hurt her hand when she fell last week in the final of the Rosmalen grass court tournament in the Netherlands, forcing her to quit during the match. She said the injury bothered her service toss and backhand, but a one-handed backhand made it easier to play with the pain. "It's OK," she said. "You know I'm pretty happy I could play today. I think my only problem is that if I can't be focused 100 percent on my match, I just don't want to play. So today I could be focused, I could forget my injury, and then I'll try to do it in my next match." The No. 3-seeded Henin-Hardenne next plays Flavia Pennetta of Italy.
British failure: Virginia Wade, the 1977 Wimbledon champion, will remain the last British woman to win the title for at least one more year. All five British women lost in the first round, the first time that's happened since the Open era began in 1968. Among those eliminated was Julie Pullin, who fell to 0-9 at Wimbledon by losing to Lina Krasnoroutskaya 6-3, 6-1. Only three of 10 British men survived the opening round -- Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski and Lee Childs. The most recent Englishman to win Wimbledon was Fred Perry in 1936.
Henman hopes: Martina Navratilova thinks Tim Henman has a good chance to win Wimbledon this year -- but only because of the shocking elimination of top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt. "Hewitt's defeat has left the draw wide open and it's one down for Henman before he's even played," the nine-time Wimbledon winner wrote in The Guardian. Navratilova said Henman, who has made it to the semifinals four times in the past five years, needed to concentrate on his natural serve-and-volley game and pace himself in readiness for the second week. She said Henman's wife, Lucy, and baby, Rosie, could help ease the pressure. "Winning Wimbledon might no longer be the most important thing in his life," Navratilova wrote. "But Henman's time has not passed, not at all." Henman beat Czech qualifier Tomas Zib 6-2, 7-6 (11), 3-6, 6-1 in the first round Tuesday.
Siberian shriek: With every shot, Maria Sharapova lets out anything from a muted groan to a high-pitched shriek. "She grunts loud, yes," acknowledged Ashley Harkleroad, who was beaten 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday by the 16-year-old Russian. "There are some other girls that get annoyed with it and think it's ridiculous with her. But to me, I don't really think about it that much." With the match all but decided late in the second set, the 18-year-old American shouted to Sharapova: "Louder." The crowd on Court No. 2 laughed. So did Harkleroad. "I actually grunt pretty loud too, especially if I'm playing her," Harkleroad said. Asked who won the grunting match, Harkleroad replied: "I think she might have won it."
Record crowd: A sunny start to Wimbledon has brought out the crowds. Organizers announced a record attendance for the first Tuesday, with 41,929 through the gates. It's an increase of 609 over the record set in 2001. After two days, 80,429 fans have attended Wimbledon, an increase of 873 from last year.
-- Associated Press