Wimbledon 97: TOMORROW'S HEADLINE?: Becker squeezed by Swede

The period of the late great Boris Becker dates from early 1996, when he ended five years without a Grand Slam title by winning the Australian Open. But that campaign could so easily have ended in first-round disaster and the reason was the player he is due to meet in the second round, Thomas Johansson.

In their only meeting so far, Johansson was two sets to love up on Becker and on the brink of claiming a famous scalp. Becker's heroics did for him in the end, but the match will surely be uppermost in both men's minds when they meet again. Ranked 32nd in the world, the 22-year-old Johansson is still improving after taking a giant leap forward in 1996, and he will be out to prove that he is not just another production-line Swede. Becker will be wary. Simon O'Hagan