Top eight spot beckons for Henman

Tim Henman has earned himself a place in the top eight at Wimbledon after striking form in the Stella Artois championships.

Wimbledon, for the first time, will seed all the top 32 entries later today but instead of adhering to the rankings, they have the scope to move players upwards or downwards depending on their record on grass.

So Henman, who lies 11th in the world rankings, clearly deserves to move up after reaching the Stella final for the second time in three years. The defeat to Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, the defending champion, in two tie-break sets did nothing to hurt his prospects at Wimbledon.

With the world No 1 Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil deciding not to play at Wimbledon there is no obstacle to American Pete Sampras, defending his seventh title in eight years, going into top place.

Twenty-year-old Hewitt could even win the second seeding after beating Sampras at Queen's Club with Andre Agassi, of the US, and Australian Pat Rafter following in the seedings. Russia's Marat Safin, who won the US Open last year, could expect to hold fifth place. Henman might be judged sixth best for the Wimbledon title but his form has to be weighed against the Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the American Jan-Michael Gambill and the Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean.

Greg Rusedski is too far adrift at 46th in the world to expect a serious seeding - or even gain one at all. He is taking part in the Samsung Open at Nottingham which started today, while Henman is practising.

Former Wimbledon champion Lindsay Davenport, who missed the French Open with a knee injury, heads the field at Eastbourne today.

Meanwhile, French Open finalist Alex Corretja of Spain has pulled out of Wimbledon with a leg injury.

Corretja was beaten in four sets by Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten in the French Open final a week ago.

Others already out of Wimbledon include Chilean Marcelo Rios and France's Arnaud di Pasquale.