Britain’s hopes of a Wimbledon champion have soared this year as a young Scot seeks to emulate the great Fred Perry who won 73 years ago, writes Shirley Tart.

I just love good tennis whoever is playing. But suddenly last Sunday, not only Wimbledon hopes and dreams but real possibilities of a home-grown winner, soared.

Andy Murray broke a 71-year record, held high a weighty trophy and raised the sights of even the most cautious fan to new heights.

The first British man to win the Queen’s Club title since Bunny Austin’s pre-war success back in 1938 and his first major success on grass, it is now perfectly reasonable to see the young Scot as a real Wimbledon challenger.

He has more than a fighting chance of being the first Brit to take the title since the legendary Fred Perry whose statue greets visitors to the All England club in leafy suburbia. Andy will also be sporting the smartest whites of his career – in honour of Perry, born exactly 100 years ago. What a year this would be to win!

But with his new maturity, the sensational star – now number two seed following Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal from the 2009 championships through injury – cautions that he might be a long way from taking championship honours in SW19, pointing out that he would need “to beat the two best players in the world”.

This week though, we can believe that Andy Murray is capable of taming new top seed Roger Federer.

It gives our championships which start on Monday, an extra impetus, and enhance the heady, sporting excitement which (for some of us at any rate) peaks in June and July at our own tennis extravaganza.

Someone else who thinks that and has watched Andy’s progress closely, is Stephen Welti. Stephen founded Shrewsbury’s Welti Tennis Centre and in that first summer as a teenage Andy Murray first came on to the radar, saw him play locally and thought ‘wow’.

After covering the championships, I remember talking to Stephen about the young player. He was quite convinced that he had seen a major talent-to-be and that Andy Murray was heading for the heights.

Since his passion after opening the centre was to produce a local Wimbledon champion, the very fact that such an exceptional young British talent is on the scene is exciting.

Several years on, Stephen says: “Maybe this will be his year. As a British player, although he’s Number 3, he has beaten both Federer and Nadal and is quite capable of doing so again. I do have a soft spot for Roger Federer, but maybe Andy’s time has come. I’ll certainly be having a few bob on him.”

A Wimbledon win by the 22-year-old tennis grafter, son of former Scottish champ Judy, who honed his trade as a lad in Spain, would inspire young players way beyond the abilities of any tennis coach.

Despite talented Tim Henman’s illustrious tennis career, not delivering Wimbledon the plate was a massive disappointment to millions of his fans. And even if we plead for caution, you’ll never stop the vocal tennis army yelling a British player on.

For the record, Tim thinks Andy can do it this year and so does Bjorn Borg. The question is, who doesn’t?

For right or wrong, the All England Championships still rate as the greatest prize of the lot. Having swept all aside to win at Queen’s, Andy is now a real favourite and not just a hopeful.

Such success boosts ambition, club membership, racquet sales, fitness and sporting prowess like nothing else. And centres of excellence like Shrewsbury’s Welti reap the harvest of other raw talent to be encouraged, polished and to maybe rear champs right here in Shropshire.

Stephen Welti says: “We are four-and-a-half years into our 10-year plan to produce a winner. We have schools programmes running and it’s all very exciting. But you do also need more centres like ours and the right support and funding from governing bodies.”

Shropshire teenager Ellie Hill reached the top 700 in the world and although she is now taking the academic route, Stephen believes she has a special talent.

While nationally, one of our brightest young hopes is Laura Robson who got her world ranking at Welti last year and now at 15, has a wild card into this year’s championships. Current girls’ singles winner at Wimbledon, Laura is a huge hit in SW19 and is joined at the championships by Britain’s Katie O’Brien, Melanie South and Georgie Stoop.

Calm Laura says: “There is going to be quite a lot of pressure so I am just going to have to deal with that but all I can do is go on court and try my best. Then, win or lose, I can’t be unhappy.”

The youngest wild card entrant since Martina Hingis in 1995, she hopes to progress further – Martina was beaten in the first round by Steffi Graf.

Our top two women, Anne Keothvang (48th in the world) and Elena Baltacha, were dismissed in the first round at Eastbourne which doesn’t bode well. Can the girls do better next week?

Russia’s Dinara Safina is top seed in the women’s singles ahead of Serena Williams and defending champion Venus Williams while after injury and plummeting form, former champ Maria Sharipova comes in at a lowly 24th. But she did get to the semis in Birmingham last week.

Last year’s champion boy, Grigor Dimitrov on a wild card is joined by Brits Alex Bogdanovic, Daniel Evans and Joshua Goodall. Another wild card, Michelle de Brito Larcher from Portugal aged 16, was heckled at the French Open due to her shrieking.

Timely warning then because the All England Club is cracking down on shouts, grunts and groans from female players.

Don’t hold your breath for a fortnight, though. And don’t miss the magic of this Murraymania Wimbledon, either!