Ryan Peniston leads charge of 11 British players in Wimbledon odyssey

For those spectators at Wimbledon on Tuesday who can remember life before Andy Murray, trying to follow the 12 Britons due on court must have felt more like the kind of orienteering exercise you can find at nearby Wimbledon Common than a day out at the All England Club.

The last time there were 17 Britons in the main draws of the singles was in 2001, back when Tony Blair was just beginning his second term as prime minister, when Tim Henman was making the semi-finals of the men’s event.

The last time 12 Britons played in singles on the same day? Well, no one at Wimbledon could find out, that’s how rare it is.

In the end, it was 11, with Harriet Dart’s match held over until Wednesday but these are heady days for British tennis. The nine Britons through to round two is the best result since 1997. Should Dart beat Rebeka Masarova of Spain to make it 10, it will be the best effort by British players since 1984.

Ryan Peniston probably thinks this is how it has always been. The 26-year-old won his first ATP Tour matches at Queen’s Club this month and on Tuesday he played and won his first grand slam main‑draw match, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 against the Swiss world No 95, Henri Laaksonen.

A group of fans from Peniston’s hometown of Southend made their voices heard throughout and when the match finished they launched into song. “I definitely heard them,” Peniston said. “I kind of had to focus because otherwise I’d start getting pumped up with them. Yeah, definitely after the match it was really nice to hear them shouting ‘Seasiders’.”

Peniston’s belated arrival on the world scene has coincided with a surge of British success, with the pre‑Wimbledon events full of encouraging performances. Though 10 of the 17 British players in the main draw