For example, when the tournament got under way here today it was, as usual, the defending men’s champion, Roger Federer, who walked out on to Centre Court, while tomorrow’s first match there will feature the women’s title holder, Venus Williams. It is also an accepted part of Wimbledon procedure that the players do not have a chance to familiarise themselves with the show courts before the tournament. At the other Grand Slams players are allowed to practise on the main courts in the days before the event starts, but not at Wimbledon.

One of the other traditions of the first two days here is the sight and sound of British players going down to battling defeats. Most British players only get to play here through the benevolence of the All England Club, which has eight wild cards to offer in both the men’s and women’s singles. Over the years there has been the occasional British upset, but for the most part the differences between the rankings of the home players and their opponents have been reflected in both performances and results.

Last year five British men and five British women were handed free passage into the main draw. They recorded just one victory between them, Katie O’Brien beating Sandra Kloesel before losing to Michaella Krajicek, who dropped only one game against the British No 2. Naomi Cavaday had two match points to beat Martina Hingis, but otherwise the home wild card contingent made little impact.

The Lawn Tennis Association, determined not to reward what it regards as mediocrity, told British players this year that it would recommend to Wimbledon that wild cards be given only to players ranked in the world’s top 250.

The All England Club has not always followed the LTA’s recommendations in the past, but this year it carried them out to the letter. As a result it awarded just two wild cards to British men as Jamie Baker and Alex Bogdanovic were the only home players other than Andy Murray in the world’s top 250. Anne Keothavong got into Wimbledon through her own ranking, while all four other British women in the top 250 – Katie O’Brien, Mel South, Elena Baltacha and Cavaday – also received cards.

The theory behind the LTA’s policy is sound enough. Standards need to be driven upwards and life has probably been too cosy for British players in the past. With the LTA providing financial support for their coaching and travelling and with the All England Club there to provide free passage into the world’s greatest tournament, has there been enough incentive for British players to put in the hard work needed to reach the top?

Probably not, but you cannot help wondering whether the policy is too inflexible. On the men’s side in particular, the dearth of world-ranked players is a major headache for John Lloyd, Britain’s Davis Cup captain, and Wimbledon has in the past provided a rare opportunity for home players to test themselves against top international opposition.

Andy Murray – provided he makes himself available for selection – and his brother Jamie are certainties for Lloyd’s team, but thereafter the captain’s choices are thin. Baker has impressed Lloyd with his whole-hearted approach, but he seems to lack the pure talent and the physical stature to make a breakthrough into the highest ranks, while his recent blood disorder has hampered his progress. Bogdanovic has flattered to deceive all too often.

Lloyd will therefore have to consider the claims of players like Josh Goodall and Richard Bloomfield, whose world rankings of 272 and 383 respectively, were not good enough to earn them recommendations for Wimbledon wild cards.

Goodall in particular has shown in the past that he can be a gritty contender – two years ago he fought his way through qualifying to reach the main draws of two Grand Slam tournaments – and the experience he would have gained through playing at Wimbledon this year would have stood him in good stead when Britain play their World Group relegation play-off against Austria at the All England Club in September.

At the Artois Championhips at Queen’s Club earlier this month Goodall received a wild card and far from disgraced himself in losing 6-4, 6-4 to Lleyton Hewitt, the former Wimbledon champion.  Bogdanovic and Dan Evans, one of Britain’s leading juniors, also received wild cards at Queen’s. Evans took only two games off Xavier Malisse, but the experience will have taught him something about the gap between junior and senior tennis. Bogdanovic’s defeat to the journeyman Joseph Sirianni was particularly disappointing, but it might at least have confirmed some thoughts in Lloyd’s mind.

The LTA is to be applauded for wanting to distance itself from the soft-option culture of the past, but it should weigh that against the need to give the best possible opportunities to its Davis Cup players of the future.

(Picture: Getty Images)