If her progress in singles is a matter of concern, there is doubles to take care of. She is partnering Martina Hingis which also means that her pictures will be published well into the second week. Her entry into court No 2 yesterday was greeted with wolf-whistles from the overflowing crowd. She appeared in a skimpy outfit and lycra shorts and not even for a fleeting moment did the photographers train their lenses on her poor Austrian opponent.

Well, that is only one part of the story. The most important bit of informationfrom the Kournikova camp came after the match, when she revealed that she is looking for a new boy friend. That would have sent a million pulses racing among her male fans. The 18-year-old Russian, who has been linked to the ice-hockey star Sergei Fedorov, who plays in the US for the Detroit Red Wings, thus sprung a juicy surprise for the tabloid press to salivate over.

Sure, Fedorov was not among the Russian's entourage on court No 2 yesterday even as she refused to reveal who her next target will be. But he was there, helping her during a practise session on Tuesday.

But then the great English rumour mill has already done a couple of rounds and the man closest to Kournikova now seems to be the Brazilian football superstar Ronaldo. Even though she says that she met Ronaldo only once last year during the French Open, the gossip is that the Brazilian may even visit SW19, perhaps just to say hello. But one thing is sure, there won't be any dearth of superstars wanting to be with Kournikova. Well, she doesthe picking and choosing.

Unequality of the sexes

Britain's great tennis hope, Tim Henman has been pushed into a spot after his snide remarks at women's tennis. Remember, Richard Krajicek (of the fat, lazy pigs fame) and former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash (he said the difference between men and women's tennis is like horse manure and thoroughbred) have all got into serious trouble for their remarks on women's tennis.

Here, Henman was reacting to the ongoing debate whether men and women's champions should be paid equally. The British No 1's answer to that was a big no. The reason: Men play five-set games while women play three, but the difference in prize money on the Tour was far greater than at Grand Slams. Henman said the women should worry about getting their tournaments to a bigger and better level than worrying about Grand Slams. ``So I think then if they are still saying that they want more in the Grand Slams, I think that's probably a bit greedy.''

Reactions from the women players areawaited.

Dravid, lost in the crowd

A familiar face among the long queue to get into Centre Court for the Pete Sampras match yesterday was Rahul Dravid. Dressed in jeans and brown pullover and a bag thrown over his shoulder, the sub-continent superstar looked completely lost, first in the crowd and then in his attempt to get to his seat. He waited outside till the changeover and in a world class venue the `Nine-Nation sport's' star was very, very lost. No one recognised him, and even if somebody did they didn't show it, and only when he was on Court 16 for the Leander Paes match did some recognition come his way. The Indians around the court thrust books at him for his autograph. Surely, he would have missed the madness so closely associated with cricket and its fans.

Parmar, the new Asian hero

Leander Paes may have gone his regular way out of the men's singles -- he is yet to win a round in four years. But a Brit of Asian origin grabbed all the headlines on the first day. Arvind Parmar-- the media calls him as `Palmer' as in Arnold Palmer -- ranked 453 caused a flutter when he knocked out Spain's Albert Costa, ranked 26th (he was once ranked as high as nine) in four sets. Parmar, from Hertfordshire, who was recently in India to play the Satellites got into the main draw through a wild card. Parmar's father is a car park worker while his mother works for the Inland Revenue.

Parmar also earned the biggest pay cheque of his career 11,150 pounds and of course the chance to play Briton Greg Rusedski next.