Generation games on the Wimbledon grass

Players at both end of the spectrum vie for their moment in the sun, but age wins out over potential.

An outstanding future is predicted for 16-year-old Laura Robson of Britain.

LONDON // Laura Robson was not born when Wimbledon celebrated the last English women's champion back in 1977. Kimiko Date Krumm was six. One year later she picked up her first racket. Yet the two players at the opposite end of the age spectrum found themselves pitched in the main draw at the All England Club this year. Across the net in the men's generation game are the Australian teenager Bernard Tomic and Rainer Schuettler, the 34-year-old German.

Outstanding futures are predicted for Robson, the youngest player in this year's championships, and Tomic, the most junior of the 128 men seeking the title. But will they enjoy the longevity of Krumm and Schuettler, the oldest competitors in the singles competitions? Unfortunately, Robson and Tomic will have to wait a little longer to take the accolades their precocious skills merit after being sent packing by highly experienced first-round opponents.

Robson, the 16-year-old British schoolgirl who captured the hearts of the host nation here two years ago by capturing the girls' singles title, and Tomic, who battled through three rounds of the qualifying competition to earn a first visit to the All England Club, are similarly ranked on the world stage. Both are expected to make rapid climbs up the rankings ladders from their respective positions of 234 and 252. Both demonstrated why as they made rivals the calibre of Jelena Jankovic, the former world No 1, and Mardy Fish, runner-up on the grass of London's Queen's Club earlier this month, fight all the way.

Jankovic was stunned by the pace of Robson's serve, which frequently broke the 160kph barrier on the Centre Court radar gun during their 6-3, 7-6 tussle. "For somebody so young she has a great serve," said a relieved Serb. "I think she has tremendous potential." Robson, who made her senior debut at Wimbledon a year ago, was pleased with the way she coped with the experience of having to perform in the most famous arena in her sport and spoke confidently about the prospects of making several more appearances here in even more important encounters.

"I would like to come back and win the title one day," she said, dreaming of emulating her British forerunner, Virginia Wade, who received the famous silver plate from Queen Elizabeth II back in 1977. At least Tomic was born when his country last produced the men's champion here. He was nine when Lleyton Hewitt overcame David Nalbandian in the 2002 final. Tomic, who is four months short of his 18th birthday, has the edge over Robson at the junior level, having won the boys' event at the Australian Open in 2008 and at the US Open last year.

He was by no means awed by Fish's reputation and came within a point of taking a set from the big-serving American in their Court 2 encounter. "I haven't faced a serve like that so far this year," said the youngster after seeing 25 Fish aces flash by his outstretched racket. "I was hoping to get a better draw than this but I got a really good player and there was not much I could do about it." Tomic admitted to being exhausted after a 13-week stint on the European circuit and he will return home for a lengthy rest before crossing his fingers in the hope of receiving a wild-card invitation into the US Open.

"I'm pretty happy with where I am at the moment," he said. "The main goal now is to become more athletic. I think that's the key to me making more progress. But I think I can do it. I'm starting to feel comfortable competing at this level." At the other end of the age scale, Schuettler was honoured to be informed that he was the oldest competitor in the men's draw. The former Australian Open runner-up has missed only two grand slams in the past 11 years, and was grateful to meet Russia's Dmitry Tursunov on an off day. He was also pleased to see his projected second-round opponent, Stanislas Wawrinka, the 20th seed, fall by the wayside.

The German, who today meets Denis Istomin, of Uzbekistan, is a comparative youngster, however, alongside Krumm of Japan, the grand old lady of the tournament. Krumm, 39, who as Miss Date made her grand-slam debut at Roland Garros in 1989, announced her retirement from the game after the 1996 Olympic Games but reversed that decision two years ago. Last month at the French Open she took her biggest scalp since her comeback - albeit the injured and out-of-form one of Dinara Safina.

Her agility around Court 14 belied her advancing years and she fought back superbly against Romania's Alexandra Dulgheru, seeded 31, to draw level after being outplayed in the opening set. However, the effort put in to take the second-set tie-break took its toll in the decider and she was swept off court in only 28 minutes by a rival who was determined to exploit an 18-year age advantage in completing a 6-2, 6-7, 6-1 victory.