Later in the day Davenport, the top seed, will make her bow against Anne-Gaelle Sidot, who yesterday reprised her Wimbledon victory of last year over the Czech Republic’s Daja Bedanova.. Nathalie Tauziat was anxious to play down her chances of breaking her Grand Slam duck after clinching the DFS Classic title for the second time at Edgbaston yesterday. Nathalie Tauziat was anxious to play down her chances of breaking her Grand Slam duck after clinching the DFS Classic title for the second time at Edgbaston yesterday.
The 33-year-old Frenchwoman beat Miriam Oremans 6-3, 7-5 in a delayed final to cap a perfect week of preparation for a tournament she insists will be her last.Tauziat, who lost the Wimbledon final to Jana Novotna in 1998, will be the oldest singles player at the All England Club, but many believe her performance this week marks her out as a possible winner. However, Tauziat is determined not to let lofty ambitions spoil her swan-song on the surface she loves.”I’m ready for Wimbledon but this year I just want to play there,” she said “I haven’t set myself any goals and I’m playing for fun. Everyone says I can win Wimbledon but I don’t want to put any pressure on myself.”Monday brought out the best and worst in Tauziat’s game, a mixture of sublime spells of flashing returns and passing shots, and periods of crisis which threatened to hand her opponent a lifeline. Tauziat survived break points in her first two service games and grabbed the crucial break in the sixth game of the first set when Oremans double-faulted.The favourite then raced into a seemingly unassailable 5-1 second-set lead with a brilliant display, but the cracks appeared when she first served for the match at 5-2, and the unforced errors began to flow. Tauziat started with two double-faults when she attempted to serve out a second time at 5-4 and was broken again as it was Oremans’ turn to summon up some fantastic returns.But Tauziat recovered to break back and successfully served out for the championship at the third attempt in front of a sparse crowd in the Edgbaston sunlight.Oremans admitted she had been beaten by the better player She said: “Today Nathalie was just too good.

The match isn’t over until the last game is played and I fought back, but it’s a pity that my serve let me down in the end.”Tauziat, who was criticised by her fellow professionals for the revelations made in her book, Women’s Tennis Stripped Bare, had a message for the next generation of players.”Tennis is a business now but when I arrived it wasn’t like this,” she said. “I hope new players don’t chose to play tennis because of the money but take it up for the love of the sport.”. The first Wimbledon seedings list untouched by All England Committee hands and extended from 16 to 32 was downloaded from a computer in SW19 last evening. The first Wimbledon seedings list untouched by All England Committee hands and extended from 16 to 32 was downloaded from a computer in SW19 last evening.
Headed by Pete Sampras, the men’s singles champion for seven of the past eight years, and Andre Agassi, one of only five men in history ever to have won each of the world’s four Grand Slam singles titles, the selection is not calculated to offend anybody ­ with the possible exception of a few heroes with feet of clay.Two of those, Gustavo Kuerten, of Brazil, the world No 1 and French Open champion, and Spain’s Alex Corretja, the runner-up at the French and currently placed No 9 in the ATP tournament entry system, withdrew before the seedings were made, citing injuries.Britain can have no complaints. Tim Henman, a finalist in the Stella Artois Championship at Queen’s Club on Sunday, is seeded sixth, five spots above his position in the entry system, bearing in mind that the absent Kuerten and Corretja were ranked above him.Greg Rusedski, the British No 2, is not seeded, even though his serve is the fastest ever recorded (149mph) His omission is not a surprise. He stands at No 42 in the entry system, and the new system does not allow players to be elevated at the expense of one of the top 32 players even if his past results on grass are superior.The seedings for the women’s singles were ratified by a Club committee for the last time, the list adhering closely to the WTA Tour’s computer rankings as usual.

The only blips in the women’s championship came with the confirmation that Monica Seles and Anna Kournikova had withdrawn because of foot injuries. Both also missed the French Open.Last year, Corretja and his compatriot Albert Costa withdrew on the eve of Wimbledon in protest that the All England Club’s seeding committee had denied them a seeding in accordance with their 12-month ATP computer ranking.After that, Wimbledon decided to disband its seeding committee in favour of an objective system. Tim Phillips, the All England Club’s chairman, has devoted much of his time this year to visiting tournaments and consulting with the ATP players and officials and his fellow Grand Slam chairmen.Last week in Paris, the Grand Slam chairmen announced a new, unified seedings system for the four major championships, starting at Wimbledon next week. They have raised the number of seeds, for both men and women, from 16 to 32, and are using a formula to seed by surface ­ grass, clay and concrete ­ by awarding additional points for past results on the sport’s various courts.Jonas Bjorkmann, of Sweden, the president of the ATP’s Players’ Council, welcomed the seedings. “I think all the players should be very pleased with the effort Wimbledon have made,” he said. “They’ve worked very hard to please the players, and this is the fairest way you can have.”Juan Carlos Ferrero, of Spain, was ready to join the Corretja-Costa protest last year but withdrew from the championships because of a back injury. The 21-year-old French Open semi-finalist is due to take his place in the draw today, even though he has been seeded No 8, from No 4 in the entry system.Australia’s Pat Rafter, last year’s beaten finalist, moves from 10th place in the entry system to No 3 in the seedings, ahead of Marat Safin, the United States Open champion.The biggest mover is Vladimir Voltchkov, of Belarus, who is elevated to 16th seed from No 30 in the entry system, having reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last year.On a historical note, in 1927, the first time full seeding was introduced and competitors were selected according to ability, irrespective of nationality, eight men were seeded.

Henri Cochet (No 4) defeated Jean Borotra (No 3) in a final between two of the Musketeers of French tennis.Eight players were also seeded in the women’s singles, the American Helen Wills (who was seeded No 1) winning the first of her eight titles, defeating Lili de Alvarez, of Spain (No 4) in the final.Wimbledon SeedingsMEN1 Pete Sampras (US) 2 Andre Agassi (US) 3 Patrick Rafter (Aus) 4 Marat Safin (Rus) 5 Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) 6 Tim Henman (GB) 7 Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Rus) 8 Juan Carlos Ferrero (Sp) 9 Sebastien Grosjean (Fr) 10 Thomas Enqvist (Swe) 11 Thomas Johansson (Swe) 12 Jan-Michael Gambill (US) 13 Arnaud Clement (Fr) 14 Wayne Ferreira (SA) 15 Roger Federer (Swit) 16 Vladimir Voltchkov (Bela) 17 Tommy Haas (Ger) 18 Magnus Norman (Swe) 19 Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) 20 Fabrice Santoro (Fr) 21 Carlos Moya (Sp) 22 Dominik Hrbaty (Slovak) 23 Todd Martin (US) 24 Nicolas Escude (Fr) 25 Albert Portas (Sp) 26 Sjeng Schalken (Neth) 27 Hicham Arazi (Mor) 28 Franco Squillari (Arg) 29 Guillermo Coria (Arg) 30 Nicolas Lapentti (Ec) 31 Alberto Martin (Sp) 32 Gaston Gaudio (Arg)WOMEN1 Martina Hingis (Swit) 2 Venus Williams (US) 3 Lindsay Davenport (US) 4 Jennifer Capriati (US) 5 Serena Williams (US) 6 Amelie Mauresmo (Fr) 7 Kim Clijsters (Bel) 8 Justine Henin (Bel) 9 Nathalie Tauziat (Fr) 10 Elena Dementieva (Rus) 11 Amanda Coetzer (SA) 12 Magdalena Maleeva (Bul) 13 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (Sp) 14 Jelena Dokic (Yug) 15 Sandrine Testud (Fr) 16 Silvia Farina-Elia (It) 17 Meghann Shaughnessy (US) 18 Anke Huber (Ger) 19 Conchita Martinez (Sp) 20 Amy Frazier (US) 21 Barbara Schett (Aut) 22 Paola Suarez (Arg) 23 Magui Serna (Sp) 24 Henrietta Nagyova (Slovak) 25 Chanda Rubin (US) 26 Anne Kremer (Lux) 27 Angeles Montolio (Sp) 28 Lisa Raymond (US) 29 Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) 30 Patty Schnyder (Swit) 31 Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thai) 32 Tatiana Panova (Rus). Diabetes who need insulin injections to stay alive have been given hope of an end to their daily routine by an experiment in which pancreatic cells from a pig were transplanted into a baboon. Diabetics who need insulin injections to stay alive have been given hope of an end to their daily routine by an experiment in which pancreatic cells from a pig were transplanted into a baboon.
The diabetic baboon has been able to produce its own insulin since the transplant and has not needed injections of the hormone for more than nine months, American researchers have revealed. If the results are repeated in further experiments, trials involving diabetic patients could begin within a year or two, the scientists said.Insulin-producing pancreas cells from the pig were coated with a complex carbohydrate before being injected into the abdominal cavity of the baboon.