Tennis: Bonus for Wimbledon fans tonight

Roger Federer during the limited time available for tennis action on Day One. Picture / Reuters

The first day of the Wimbledon championships was 90 per cent ruined because of rain, but that's left a bonus for tonight's (NZ time) spectators.

They'll get to see the best of those held over from yesterday and the full Day Two line-up as well, which means all the stars will be coming out to play - provided the weather co-operates.

There's a formidable line-up of the best men, starting with top seed Roger Federer and encompassing the second seed and French Open champion, Rafael Nadal, last year's runner-up, Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi in his last Wimbledon and Britain's great new hope, Andy Murray, as well as the nation's long-time hero, Tim Henman.

In the 35 minutes allowed before rain yesterday, Federer performed most impressively, taking the opening set from the French 20-year-old, Richard Gasquet with the sort of sublime tennis he seems to reserve for the grass of Wimbledon.

Federer began his march towards a fourth men's title in succession and a place on history's Open era shelf alongside Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras, who collected four in a row.

Having won Nottingham last Saturday for the second year in a row, Gasquet boldly pronounced himself "the Federer of Nottingham", but overcoming the real thing will be something else entirely.

One thing in Gasquet's favour is that he is one of only four men to defeat Federer in the whole of 2005 - at Monte Carlo last year.

The Swiss star won the first set 6-3, and play will resume tonight with both players on serve early in the second set.

SCHEDULE OF PLAY

Centre Court (1200 GMT):

Meng Yuan (China) v 3-Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium)
1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) v Richard Gasquet (France) [to finish]
25-Andre Agassi (US) v Boris Pashanski (Serbia)
31-Nicolas Massu (Chile) v Andy Murray (UK)

Court One (1200 GMT)

Robin Soderling (Sweden) v Tim Henman (UK)
Vera Zvonareva (Russia) v 2-Kim Clijsters (Belgium)
Alex Bogdanovic (UK) v 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain)
Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) v 3-Andy Roddick (US)