Tears, a thumb, a tantrum, or if one prefers, the Rusedski rant and thunderous black clouds, have combined to dominate the first seven days of the Wimbledon fortnight. But for the majority who make the pilgrimage to the All England Club, colour on Centre Court is infinitely preferable to scandal.
The demise of Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi, racked with self-doubt and a fallibility born of injury and personal foibles, has shorn the tournament of two icons and left a vacuum that the incumbent champions are unlikely to fill. Graf, nervy and tearful, is the antithesis of all she epitomised in previous years.
Agassi, once the people's champion, is a showman on a stage dominated by the big serving clones. But for the Las Vegan once more the bitter disappointment of a careless defeat. The thrashing his conqueror, 20-year-old Tommy Haas, subsequently received at the hands of Holland's John Van Lottum (6-3, 6-3, 6-3) serves as a reminder of the long road Agassi has to travel before he again joins the elite. His passing at this Wimbledon denies the crowd a popular hero besides the obvious adulation of Tim Henman. Four times champion Pete Sampras is much admired for his athletic ability but it is a quiet acknowledgement.
Trawling through the remaining combatants one struggles to find a successor to Agassi in captivating an audience. Scowling Croatian Goran Ivanisevic boasts a wonderful sense of humour and a disdain for officialdom and the pomposity that bedevils this tournament but the `professor of serving' is more artisan than artiste.
It is a failing shared by former champion Richard Krajicek and Australian Mark `Scud' Philippoussis, whose effectiveness is measured in miles per hour. Krajicek and Ivanisevic are both racking up the aces and should meet in the semi-final, in the bottom half of a draw ravaged by seeded casualties.
Sixth seed, Patrick Rafter, Agassi's successor as the heartthrob among the teenage viewers, boasts obvious credentials. US Open champion last year, his serve-and-volley game is one to send the purists purring, although the high kick of the serve is more suited to the hard courts.
Assessing his chances usually centres on mental resilience rather than physical deficiencies. This Aussie has the equipment to compete for ultimate glory but sometimes nerves and his annoying habit of pushing rather than hitting forehand returns of serve intervenes.
Unfortunately he faces two tough contests before he can even contemplate a tilt at Sampras. Henman has muddled through against three nondescript challengers, spurning a multitude of break-points (21 against Byron Black alone). He can ill afford to do the same against Rafter.
Henman is certainly capable, but Rafter appears the better prospect and should therefore squeeze through to a quarter-final meeting with Australian Open champion, the gifted Petr Korda. When not dogged by injury the number three seed from the Czech Republic represents a delightful amalgam of swinging serve and searing groundstrokes.
The spiky-haired Czech with the penchant for the scissor kick celebration, is the man all his peers fear. If his body is pain free and the velvet touch is unhindered by mental demons . . . then watch out. A Rafter-Korda clash bears the hallmark of a classic with Sampras preferring a Rafter victory.
Untangling that threesome with any degree of certainty is almost impossible. But the fact that Rafter would have faced the tougher journey to that stage might be decisive. The ultimate winner? Given £5 . . . Pat Rafter. Spending £5 of my own, Pete Sampras.
Anna Kournikova's lamented absence and Graf's surprise defeat means predicting next weekend's finalists is more predictable. Martina Hingis, encumbered only by her own laziness at times, or unwillingness to recognise the quality of an opponent, has waltzed through to the fourth round and her first real examination should not arrive until the quarter-final clash with Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.
The redoubtable Spaniard, winner of this year's French Open, looks less assured at Wimbledon, already dropping two sets and having to scramble far harder than she should. She should test but not upset Hingis. It would then be the preserve of Jana Novotna or the beaded ones, the Williams sisters, to stop the Swiss star.
The siblings, should they both prevail today, set up an intriguing clash, with the winner likely to face Novotna, last year's beaten finalist. Experience may decide this threesome in the Czech's favour.
The other half of the draw should offer no such complications. Monica Seles, arguably the person who would prove the most popular winner, in the light of personal tragedies suffered both in the infamous stabbing and the death of her father, should find Lindsay Davenport barring her path to the final.
It is a sobering reflection to record the fickleness of public opinion. Seles once pilloried for her grunting, found it hard to curry favour with the Wimbledon crowd during her ascendant years. Yet now, touched by tragedy but still breaking decibel levels, is saturated by public empathy.
Unlike Graf, Seles harbours no doubts and if she can continue to improve her mobility through the week ahead, offers the only real threat to Hingis. She deserves any triumph that may arrive, but particularly a first Wimbledon, the only Grand Slam title that eludes her.
