Grappling on Celebrity Wrestling was not on the agenda when, three weeks before her 16th birthday, this girl from Kent became the youngest British competitor in the Wimbledon ladies’ singles for 95 years. Croft was hailed as the successor to Grand Slam champions Ann Jones, Virginia Wade and Sue Barker when she took the Wimbledon and Australian Open girls’ titles, and the hype became even greater when she won the Virginia Slims of San Diego tournament at the age of 18, beating the vastly more experienced Australian Wendy Turnbull in straight sets in the final. But the touring life was not for Croft and she became increasingly homesick. "It came to the point where I really didn’t want to do it any more," she recalled. "I gave it a good shot, but I came to conclusion that all I wanted to do was get married and have children." Now a mother of three, she is a regular on television after flying around in helicopters on Treasure Hunt before winning ITV’s Celebrity Wrestling title this year.

2 Andrew Castle

The fact that this current star of GMTV’s sofa lost the deciding fifth set of his second-round match at Wimbledon in 1986 against the world No 1-in-waiting Mats Wilander 6-0 didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the television commentator who doubled as a director of Slazenger.

"Can’t stay because I’ve got to get this young Castle signed up," he declared. "He’s going to win the title here one day." A contract certainly did ensue for the 22-year-old, who had graduated from Wichita State University in Kansas only six months earlier, but the title never materialised. In fact, Castle admitted he never felt comfortable playing at Wimbledon from that day forward. However, he insists he was only playing to orders, recalling: "My coach was Roger Taylor and before I walked out on court he told me, ‘I don’t want you enjoying this’."

3 Nick Brown

Desmond Lynam says one of his abiding memories of Wimbledon is watching this Cheshire right- hander beat the much-tipped Goran Ivanisevic in the second round in 1991, go through the obligatory round of interviews and then roar off into a glorious summer sunset on the back of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. It seemed to herald stardom for a player who revelled in quick grass-court conditions and who beat another future Wimbledon champion, Michael Stich, en route to the final of the now defunct Bristol tournament in 1989. However, the win over Ivanisevic was almost the last sight of Brown on a singles court; he lost in the next round to Thierry Champion and played only one more event. He did continue for another year as a doubles player before retiring to take up coaching.

4 Chris Bailey

One of the abiding memories of Wimbledon ’93 is Bailey extending the previous year’s runner-up, Goran Ivanisevic, to a late-night finish and, after having match point, eventually losing 9-7 in the fifth set. A round earlier he had beaten Patrick McEnroe. The next morning, Bailey’s telephone was busy with numerous sponsorship offers in the belief that he was the future of British tennis. But within a year he was forced to retire after seven knee operations. He is omnipresent whenever tennis is on TV, presenting and commentating for Sky and the BBC.

5 James Baily

Back in the days when Tim Henman was regarded as too scrawny to consider a top-flight tennis career, a bright, shining light emerged at the 1993 Australian Open. Baily, second from left, next to Henman, the training partner of the much-hyped Jamie Delgado, took everybody by surprise to win the junior title on the Rebound Ace of Flinders Park. In some circles the victory was seen as heralding a new era in British tennis, but the experience of facing a nation’s media on his homecoming terrified the shy Baily. After playing just one men’s event, the 18-year-old turned his back on the game and was perfectly content to drift back into anonymity.

6 Sarah Loosemore

Perhaps the epithet of being the most talented member of Wales’s most accomplished tennis-playing family was too much to live up to, but the competitive career of this attractive youngster from Cardiff was short-lived. Coached by Andrew Jarrett, who will take over as tournament referee at Wimbledon next year, she seemed destined for a place in the world’s top 50 after a promising junior career. She progressed to the third round of the Australian Open as a qualifier, but her peak was a place in the WTA Tour final in Singapore. Loosemore rose to 76th in the world rankings, but, aged 21, she decided to retire. She went to Oxford University to read law, fell in love with the rugby captain and never wielded a competitive racket again.

7 Christopher ‘Buster’ Mottram

There is something incongruous in the fact that Buster Mottram can often be found playing bridge at the All England Club. Although he was not a failure, rising as high as 15th in the world rankings during the eras of Borg, McEnroe and Lendl, he was a serial under-achiever at Wimbledon. Only once did he reach the last 16, but in the Davis Cup he was an example to all, with his finest hour coming in victory over Italy ’s Adriano Panatta in front of a crowd of screaming Romans at the Foro Italico.

8 Sam Smith

Britain has not had a female player in the world’s top 100 since an ankle injury forced Smith into retirement for the second time six years ago. Initially a teenage prospect, she tired of the Tour and quit to study law at Exeter University. But playing in the World Student Games rekindled her competitive nature and she returned after a four-year absence to beat former champion Conchita Martinez at Wimbledon. She is now establishing a reputation as Britain’s most perceptive female television commentator.

9 Stephen Warboys

Warboys’s father, Jack, inherited his father’s business and promptly sold it to finance his son’s sporting career. He had his own court and running track in the grounds of the family house and stars such as Rod Laver were used as hitting partners. At 15 he looked a potential world-beater and Bernard Braden, the late television presenter, made a documentary on the boy who would win Wimbledon. But Warboys was usurped by John Lloyd and eventually emigrated to Canada, where he is chief coach at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club.

10 Stanley Matthews Jr

When the Brooklyn Beckham of his day decided he wanted to take up tennis rather than football, his illustrious father sought out the best possible tuition. Stanley Jr became one of the Barrett Boys, under the guidance of John Barrett, the BBC commentator, and he won the All England Club’s junior title at 17. But, as Barrett lamented, "ultimately he wasn’t quite good enough ". After four years Stanley Jr quit tennis and moved to the United States, where he is owner of the Western Connecticut Tennis Club.