You may find this hard to believe, but even Tramlines is a little
bored of the seemingly endless debate: "Is British tennis dead?"

And so, on a day when Lleyton Hewitt very nearly caused the shock
of the tournament, Tramlines found conversation turning to the inevitable,
"Whatever happened to Australian tennis?"

Before heading to Halle
to defend his title, Hewitt had not played a match since March as he battled
with injury yet again.

After reaching the quarter-finals in Halle,
the Australian obviously decided he was undercooked heading into Wimbledon and
opted to play at Eastbourne, where he

In case you missed it - Venus Williams is back.

Technically the 31-year-old returned to action last week at Eastbourne, but she well and truly returned to the fold
today with yet another eye-catching outfit.

And once again, the dress was as divisive as we've come to expect
from the five-times Wimbledon champion, who is
studying fashion design in her spare time.

Last seen in a Grand Slam sense at least, in a criss-cross yellow
number at the Australian Open earlier this year, Venus's latest outfit is a
white and gold jumper with a draped top half and cutaway back.

"It's a jumper," Williams said

The
obituaries of British tennis were written and published a long while ago, but
the start of the grass court season has provided evidence to the contrary.

Elena
Baltacha claimed the splendidly named AEGON (if a tournament shouts as loud as
it can, it may just get noticed) Challenge with a 7-5 6-3 victory over Petra
Cetkovska in Nottingham on Sunday.

James
Ward then made British number one Andy Murray "jealous of all the
attention he was getting" with a staggering assault on the Queen's Title,
only to pull up short in his semi-final with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Oh,
and then Murray himself came

So world number three Roger Federer has put an end to the Novak Djokovic winning streak.

The Serb fell one match short of equalling John McEnroe's 42 match winning streak to open the 1984 season, and three matches short of equalling Guillermo Vilas's all time record winning streak of 46 matches.

More immediate is the fact that Rafael Nadal, who also made the French Open final when he beat Andy Murray in three sets, will retain the world number one ranking for at least another couple of weeks.

Nadal was in the slightly odd position of knowing that, despite having already made the Championship

Li Na has made history yet again,
picking up her maiden Grand Slam title to secure the very first major singles win
for China,
either in the men's or women's game.

It's a phrase that Tramlines has
become accustomed to typing over the past few months, ever since the Chinese
player reached her maiden Grand Slam final in Australia back in February.

But it was not just that she lifted
the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen that was impressive on Saturday; it was the manner
in which she did it.

A hugely popular champion at Roland
Garros last year, Francesca Schiavone had the lion's share of support from the

Maria Sharapova: The Russian is always captivating, displaying a timeless beauty and elegance.

Ana Ivanovic: The Serb remains a firm favourite of the fans, even if she was eliminated early in Paris.

Roger Federer: A gentleman through and through, Federer is always immaculately turned out.

Maria Kirilenko: The bright colours of her shirt, and the white headband, suit the Russian perfectly.

Gael Monfils:On many other people this purple and white outfit would not work but somehow Monfils manages to carry it off.

Caroline Wozniacki: The frills and cut-out sections on the world number one's

His best record is Down Under in Melbourne, his most vociferous band of supporters can be heard in London and his best surface is said to be across the pond in New York. With all this in mind, it is appropriate to ask: can Andy Murray finally snag his first Grand Slam on his least productive surface? 

Only six out of 51 men's singles Grand Slam winners in the modern era have needed more attempts to reel in their first 'big one' than the Great British hope, but Murray need not fear the past. Not at the age of 24. 

The sight of the Scotsman finally making good on his early promise at the

It might have been a slip of the tongue, but when Andy Murray said his 6-1 6-1 6-2 demolition of Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez was "easier than the scoreline suggested", he could have been forgiven.

Murray was quick to correct his faux pas in the courtside interview with Jim Courier, but there was no denying his utter domination of the match, right from the moment he was passed by an incredible early shot (see below).

Murray simply blew away his opponent from that moment on, making his claim - unintentional or not - entirely plausible.

It's not an assertion that can be made often, not least