Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

I can go a year without watching tennis, then sit down for Wimbledon and enjoy every moment of it.

It’s a sport that lends itself to the casual fan. It’s a beautiful sport, often a mesmerising sport: anyone can appreciate Roger Federer’s pinpoint precision and poetic skill.

But there is no Federer here. And although that makes it less exciting in a way, I’m hoping it will still be exciting here, with these two players.

As I’m writing, the Wimbledon final is underway, and I’m hoping it’s going to be a thrilling game. It’s a little bit strange not to have Roger Federer in it: he limped out against Thomas Berdych earlier in the competition – and it will be interesting to see if it will be a passing of the torch moment, like when Federer trumped Sampras all those years ago.

There’s something thoroughly entertaining about Nadal. He plays with such intensity, such fire; a steely determination to never give up, never allow a single point to slip away. He literally plays every point as if he were against match point. And yet, he has such endurance that you have to think the longer the game goes, the more it favours him.

Berdych is a relative unknown. Although he if he wins, he will be the first person to ever win the title having gone through the top three players in the world to do so.

There are some famous faces in the crowd, too, and you can see why: it’s a fantastic event. The sun is shining, there are strawberries and cream and offer, and tennis is a game that you don’t have to follow to appreciate.

It’s time for Wimbledon again, here in England. And already, the British hopefuls are not doing very well.

You can tell it’s Wimbledon time by the way the sun has come out, fleetingly. And by the looming feeling that it will soon rain, as it always rains. And, of course, by all the people out and about playing tennis, in the yearly ritual. And you can tell it because, once again, the media is rallying behind one British man. Once again, Maybe It Will Be His Time.

Like clockwork, Wimbledon comes, and the tennis craze comes with it. There has been a British tennis player to rally behind for as long as I can remember, and, inevitably, we do. It has been Tim Henman, until quite recently. He was quite good. Not fantastic, like you have to be to win Wimbledon these days – but quite good. And, for year after year, the nation rallied behind him.

But he never won. Because you have to be fantastic to win in this era of tennis. In this era, there is Nadal. In this era, there is Federer, who is scintillating to watch on grass, and quite possibly the best player of all time. And really, when it comes down to it, that leaves just two other people who can hope to challenge them.

A Brit hasn’t won Wimbledon in 73 years, but for the first time, but now the hope around the country doesn’t feel quite so much like a fools hope. In fact, there is a very real sense that Andy Murray can pull this one off. After all, he has beaten Federer and Nadal before, and Nadal is coming into this competition with dodgy knees. And he is ranked third in the world, behind the two of them. So if anybody can do it, presumably it’s him.

And here am I, claiming to be immune to the effects of Wimbledon fever!