Poor Wimbledon performance prompts yet another British inquest

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Cameron Norrie was the only seeded British player at Wimbledon and lost in the first round to American qualifier Michael Zheng By Jonathan Jurejko BBC Sport tennis news reporter at Wimbledon Published 20 minutes ago Wimbledon is, for many, the highlight of a British sporting summer, with those flocking to SW19 - or following elsewhere - desperate to cheer home players to victory. But 15 of the 19 Britons have lost already this year - the highest number of first-round exits since 1988 and the highest percentage of defeats since 2013. Home hopes were, of course, not helped by Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu - the pair with the most pedigree - pulling out because of injury. "There have been some tough draws, but it certainly doesn't look good," British stalwart Dan Evans, who was not given a wildcard at the final tournament of his career, told BBC Sport. "I think the past few days have shown there's plenty of work to be done in our sport." Inquests into the state of British tennis are not uncommon - especially after the clay-court French Open, which precedes Wimbledon. The entire British contingent were out of Roland Garros by the end of round two - the third Grand Slam in a row at which none reached the second week. For Britain to avoid a fourth, it requires Katie Swan, Arthur Fery, Jacob Fearnley or Jan Choinski to keep the flag flying at the All England Club. The quartet restored some pride on Tuesday after a clean sweep of 10 defeats for home players on Monday. But despite that disheartening start, four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Tim Henman believes British tennis remains in a "far better place" than the pre-Andy Murray wilderness of the mid to late 2000s. "The opening day was difficult - having so many players lose on the same day is disappointing," said Henman, who is a board member at the All England Club. "But you can't judge the system on one tough day. I'd like to think there are better times ahead." What's gone wrong for British players this year? A poor start by the Britons was not entirely unexpected. Seventeen of the 19 home players faced opponents ranked inside the world's top 55, with only Cameron Norrie - a semi-finalist here in 2022 - ranked higher than his first-round opponent. Just four players were given direct access to the main draw because of their ranking. Twelve more were given wildcards, and three came through qualifying. "The losses will create bad headlines - probably slightly unfairly," said British number four Francesca Jones. "I think with some of the draws that people are handed, it was always going to be difficult." The dearth of British players in the top 100, which guarantees direct entry into the main draw, is a glaring issue. Norrie and Choinski - both born outside the UK before switching allegiance - are the only men's representatives, with Raducanu, Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal their female counerparts. "That's woeful, isn't it?" said Evans, who reached a career-high