by Mark Atkinson , Scotland on Sunday

GERMAN Tennis had to wait the best part of half a century before they had another man to compete in the latter stages of Wimbledon . Although Wilhem P Bungert made the final in 1967 - losing to John Newcombe - there was a paucity of grass court stars until Boris Becker, below, burst on to the scene in 1985.

A scrawny 17-year-old back then, Becker made history by becoming the youngest ever male winner of the Championships at that point. His four-set win over Kevin Curren was followed by two other titles in 1986 and 1989, along with four defeats in the final in 1988, 1990, 1991 and 1995.

His defeat at SW19 in 1991 was the pinnacle of German Tennis with two men from that nation competing in the final. Michael Stich won his only Wimbledon crown, his victory coming as somewhat of a surprise. It was the last time a German man was to be victorious on the grass and signalled the demise of Germany's Tennis superiority and the emergence of the Americans

Stich went on to make the final of the US and the French Open but came up short both times. Since Becker's victory over Michael Chang at the Australian Open, only Rainer Schuettler has made the final of any Grand Slam tournament, suffering a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 loss to Andre Agassi in Melbourne in 2003.

Schuettler is currently Germany's sole occupant of a Top 30 berth in the ATP rankings, although that will change next week after Tommy Haas's performance at this year's Championships. Haas's run emulated that of Schuettler last year - the 33-year-old was beaten by Rafael Nadal.

Haas has been Germany's nearly man, the most talented player to come out of the nation since Boris Becker but all too often plagued by injuries and tragedy. He became the World No 2 in May of 2002 but his march to the top was halted when his father was left in a coma after a severe motorcycle accident. Consequently, he spent much of second half of 2002 looking after his family and his career stalled further when a debilitating shoulder injury kept him off the tour for a year. His fine performance in this year's French Open - losing in five sets to Roger Federer - following by a ten-game winning streak on grass rekindled thoughts of what might of been, but with age not on his side, the 31-year-old may struggle to push for tangible success.

With Haas, Schuettler and 2007 Australian Open semi-finalist Nicolas Kiefer all over 30, there is now pressure on the emerging Germans to fly the flag. Problem is, they are all too thin on the ground.

Philipp Kohlschreiber, ranked 32, has been the only player thus far to take a set from Roger Federer at this year's Wimbledon. He has, however, failed to make it past the fourth round in any Grand Slam. Mischa Zverev, Benjamin Becker, Andreas Beck and Philipp Petzschner are all ranked within the Top 60, but none seem capable of making serious inroads into the rankings.

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