Wimbledon: Live Game-by-game Coverage of Tim Henman's Match With Feliciano Lopez

HELLO! The sun is shining and Tim Henman is expected back on Centre Court at 1pm to restart his match with Feliciano Lopez. Please join us then.

After several streaks of fearsome lightning descend on SW19 the covers are pulled back over the show courts. Surely that is it for the evening. Come back tomorrow for further coverage of the rain.

A plate of chicken and leek pie later and the covers come off at 7.30pm to the groans of those in Guardian Towers who had been hoping to make a quick getaway. It could be that we have some play shortly, folks.

"Colin Montgomerie has probably been more consistently in the top 10 in the world in the last 15 years than Tim Henman," says Daniel Seppings. "Won more tournaments. Done better in majors. Played well in team competition. Choked when he's got close to winning a biggie. Oh."

Centre Court is looking very sparse. There's no sign of the persistent drizzle ending soon. "Calzaghe certainly has not been able to get the very best to fight him on a consistent basis, but to suggest he's only fought one truly world-class boxer is an insult to him and to many of his opponents, including but not limited to Chris Eubank, Richie Woodhall, Robin Reid, Byron Mitchell and Charles Brewer, all of whom held world titles, plus Omar Sheika and a host of other contenders," writes Greg Phillips. I agree, it was unnecessarily dismissive. However, nowadays just holding a world title does not necessarily mean you are a world-class boxer. The biggest of those names, Chris Eubank, was a long way past his best when he fought Calzaghe.

"In what is already a very narrow category you seem to be making up the rules as we go along to ensure your initial assertion proves correct," says Andrew Farrell (no, rugby's a team sport, I'm afraid). "So back at you Mr Adamson - give us four other runners and riders to choose from that fit the bill of yet-to-retire consistent British performer over the last decade in an 'individual, truly global' sport. Betcha can't." No, Andrew, I can't - hence why my pick of Henman works. And I stipulated all of those criteria in my initial question. "On the brightside at least you've found something that Tiger can finally win." Touche.

6pm Still no sign of play I'm afraid. "That 'shower hitting Wimbledon soon' to which you refer isn't a gathering of the British wildcards is it?" asks Gary Naylor, who can't be accused of being a fair-weather OBO/MBM/GBG supporter.

"If you extend the riff to include sportswomen (and I don't see why not, it's not like you're short of time to fill)," says Paul McMillan, who as a student knows better than most how to fill empty hours, "then Paula Radcliffe has to win hands down."

"Surely the Best British Sportsman of the last decade is Peter Nicol?" says David Johnston. "Who?" reply the nine GBG readers in unison. "Squash is played in many countries and is such a demanding game physically that to reach the top and stay at the top for so long is a phenomenal achievement." I would mock this nomination, David, but I have two good friends in the top 50 of squash's world rankings, so I had better not. In fact, I once challenged one of them to a game, Phil Barker - he played left-handed and still beat me 9-0, 9-0, 9-0. A talented chap.

YouTube away to your heart's content I'll be back when there's some play. "The genius that is Armando Iannucci produced an excellent 'look back' on Tim Henman in The Time Trumpet," writes Paul Hayes. "That might be a useful rain-stopped-play viewing (from 2:41-5:45)."

More "Great" British sportsmen "I offer you Calzaghe and perhaps somewhat predictably, Beckham," says Guy Reder, not quite grasping the individual sportsman aspect of this riff. "Also, when did Michael Vaughan emerge?" And Sir Steve Redgrave is discounted too given that he quit rowing in 2000 and Redgrave always had team-mates.

"In response to the most consistent single-playing British sports performer - how about Joe Calzaghe?" asks Greg Krmadjian. Ok, Greg, you've got 30 words to offer your case. "He's reigned as a champion for a decade and is respected. Unlike Timmy who is the epitome of everything that is wrong with sport. An over-privileged loser." You're right about Calzaghe, but then - and this has to count against him even if it is through no fault of his own - he has only ever fought one truly world-class boxer, Jeff Lacy. If he had beaten Jermain Taylor, Bernard Hopkins et al, then I'd be willing to crown him.

"Surely Lennox Lewis fits the bill as the top sportsman of the past decade, followed by the only British tennis player to reach the final of a grand slam," says Andy Stiff. "­All hail Canada." Lewis certainly would be top, but he retired in 2004. Then again, it could be claimed Henman's career at the top level came to an end three years ago, too.

No word on how long this rain-delay will last "Re: The best individual British sportsman of the last ten years," begins Nick Hughes. "I'll see your Henman and raise you the man who has reigned supreme at the top of his sport for the past 15 years and, unlike Henman, has the silverware (and waistline) to prove it. I give you Mr Phil 'The Power' Taylor." I knew someone would put forward The Power. I'm not going to enter into a debate as to whether darts is a sport, but I will argue that it is a sport played by so few people in so few countries that being a top-10 tennis player is more of an achievement than being a world champion darts thrower.

Rain stops play Lopez takes the first point of the third game with a delicate volleyed lob, but rather than put their hands together in applause, the spectators reach for their bags and their umbrellas as the players rush to the exit.

First set: Henman 1-1 Lopez* Lopez is a rare breed: a Spaniard who likes to serve-and-volley. (Incidentally, I used to find it fitting that Aranxtia Sanchez-Vicario said "grass is just for cows".) He uses this tactic on every point in his first service game, but Henman's eye is in already and he extracts three loose volleys from López to set up a break-point ... and promptly sends his return into the net. López then gets on the board with a gorgeous drop-shot.

First set: *Henman 1-0 Lopez A nervy start from Lopez, who only manages to return one of Henman's serves - and that is confidently dispatched by a crisp Henman volley.

Warm-up Forehands, backhands, volleys, smashes, serves. You know the drill.

Talking tactics Some BBC flunkie called Jason Goodall, presumably related to the Josh who lost to Lopez in straight sets on Monday, has noted that the Spaniard is left-handed and has a weak backhand. So now you know.

As a consistent performer, has Henman been Britain's best individual sportsman over the past decade? He may not have won one of tennis's four biggest tournaments, but he has been ranked in the top 10 of a truly global sport for most of the past 10 years. I'm open to other nominations.

Preamble Hello Henmaniacs and welcome to the latest running of the Tiger Tim rollercoaster. Indeed, enjoy it while you can because if the last two years are anything to go by, it could be its last. Yesterday's remarkable victory over Carlos Moya was Henman's third successive first-round five-setter at Wimbledon, and on the two previous occasions Britain's great hope proceeded to flop out at the next hurdle.

The man hoping to ensure a three-peat is Feliciano Lopez, the Anna Kournikova of the men's tour. Lopez, a 25-year-old Spaniard, is famed more for his good looks than his great play - he reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2005, but has lost more matches than he has won during his career - and his games are often punctuated by wolf-whistles from young girls in the crowd rather than "come on Tim"s from middle-aged housewives. In fact, he's even been known to take afternoon strolls down the catwalk in Miami - difficult to imagine Timothy Henry Henman indulging in such past-times.