So, Wimbledon approacheth, and with it the inevitable speculation about how well the latest Great British hope will do in the event. For a good number of years, the hope was pinned on the seemingly perennial quarter-finalist, Tim Henman.

Tim is frequently dismissed as ‘not good enough’. This is a bit unfair. Tim managed — if I recall correctly — to get himself ranked the world’s sixth best tennis player. That takes some doing. I doubt I’m sixth best in the world at many things — although of course I am the world’s second best blogger and therefore obviously the most modest one.

Tim’s problem was that those above him were just better. There’s no shame in that. He did win titles, it’s just when you get to the Grand Slams, the world’s best all want to compete, and they all want to win. And while Tim was a good quality all-round player, he’d always struggle when he came up against another good all-round player with a bit more power.

Briefly, Alex Alex Bogdanovic appeared as a youth seemingly doing quite well in the early rounds at Wimbledon but as yet he hasn’t — and possibly may not — achieve the required level. Instead it was a chap called Andy Murray from the Scottish town of Dunblane who stepped up to the plate and gave his home town a nice reason to get in the news.

Over the past couple of years, Andy has not only muscled his way into the world’s top ten, he’s muscled his way up the rankings, gradually overhauling some other quality players and now stands as the world’s third best tennis player, after passing Novak Djokovic sometime between the Australian Open and the French.

Andy warmed up for Wimbledon by being the first Englishman (have to say that to annoy any Scots reading as Andy is obviously actually a proud Scot) to win at Queens Club since about fifty years before tennis was actually invented. The inevitable media circus ensued, only after so many years of disappointment, now there’s a mix of the cynical (ah, he’ll never win) to the wildly optimistic (of course he’ll win, no problem!). Of course, during Wimbledon itself, the renamed ‘Henman Hill’ (now ‘Murray Mount’– which sounds worryingly like a sexual perversion with a type of mint) will cheer him to the metaphorical rafters.

The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between. Rafael Nadal — the current Wimbledon champion, the current world number one, and someone with a power game who is extremely difficult to beat — has pulled out of Wimbledon with a knee injury. And with Murray promoted to second seed in Nadal’s absence, that gives him a route to the final without having to play anyone ranked higher than himself.

Of course, there are a lot of other good players on the Men’s Circuit, many of whom are capable of beating Andy, just as he is capable of beating any of them, so there’s no guarantee he’ll make it to the final. If he does make it to the final of course, he’s then likely to be facing Roger Federer, who has won about seventy Wimbledons (okay, it’s maybe a few less), so that’s not going to be easy either.

Can Andy win Wimbledon? Yes, he’s good enough. Will Andy win Wimbledon? That’s where the problem lies: he’s physically strong enough, he’s mentally tough enough, he’s got a very good game with an excellent range of shots — but so have some of the other players. He is very capable of winning Grand Slam events, and I think he will. But there’s no guarantee that this tournament — or even this year — will see the first.

But I hope it does. If pushed to make a prediction, I’d say he’ll reach at least the semi-final. After that, the quality is sufficiently high to make it anyone’s game on the day.