Pierce ready to find her feet on grass

TREVOR HAYLETT reports from Hurlingham

She has a clean bill of health and like all fair maidens with long legs, the sun in London brought out the best in her. Someone accidentally played music at the start of her press conference yesterday, and that made Mary Pierce laugh. It is a winning smile that we could be seeing a lot more of over the next fortnight.

The world's fourth-ranked women's player had worked hard this week preparing for the Wimbledon debut that is long overdue, and has confided to her coach, Nick Bollettieri, that the unaccustomed feeling of grass under her tennis shoes is not so bad after all.

"Mary has said she would like to play on this surface every day,' said Bollettieri, who has masterminded the development of the 20-year-old French glamour-girl since she ended a traumatic relationship with her father.

At least in public, Pierce was a touch more circumspect, saying that, no, there wasn't a mental barrier to overcome, although she did need a lot of grass-court practice. She skilfully parried questions about both her father and her boyfriend that proved a useful warm-up for the real media inquisition to come, and was sufficiently emboldened to venture: "I want to win Wimbledon and I think I can."

Worries over her health and fitness in Paris had again put her appearance at the All England championships in doubt, but a rigorous physical examination produced the all-clear.

Boris Becker, another from the Bollettieri stable, continues to receive treatment in Germany for a calf problem, although he too is a definite starter for next week. "It would take a hell of a lot to keep him away," Bollettieri said. "This is his second home."

Yesterday, the man who put Andre Agassi and Monica Seles on the path to fame and glory also revealed details of an association with Millfield, the foremost sporting school in the country, in which his coaching programme will be incorporated into the timetable for up to 40 aspiring players.

"It's a long-range programme based on the success we have had in America," he said. "Don't say that I'm here to find a British champion. The aim is to get kids playing tennis, and if out of that we can find some good players, then I will be very fortunate."