Oxfordshire's Tim Henman begins his 12th bid for the title he covets the most against Finland's Jarkko Nieminen at Wimbledon tomorrow.

The 30-year-old sixth seed has reached the semi-finals at the All England Club four times and is confident as he carries the nation's hopes on his shoulders yet again.

"I know I can beat anybody on grass," he said.

"So I will be concentrating on trying to execute my game plan to the best of my ability and then taking it from there."

British No 2 Greg Rusedski, who reached the quarter-finals in 1997, faces clay-court specialist Alberto Martin today, while defending champion Roger Federer gets things under way as he begins his campaign for a third-successive Wimbledon title against France's Paul-Henri Mathieu.

TODAY'S ORDER OF PLAY

Centre (1pm): Roger Federer (1) (Swi) v Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra), Lindsay Davenport (1) (USA) v Alina Jidkova (Rus), Paradorn Srichaphan (Tha) v Marat Safin (5) (Rus).

Court 1 (1pm): Lleyton Hewitt (3) (Aus) v Christophe Rochus (Bel), Amelie Mauresmo (3) (Fra) v Melinda Czink (Hun), Juan Carlos Ferrero (23) (Spa) v Jamie Delgado (GB).