Emergence of Ward can only be good news for Britain

Still it is their task to grab hold of the Scot’s coat-tails and follow him. Yet no-one has yet got in the 24-year-old’s slipstream.

Murray does not have the luxury of a Greg Rusedski who Tim Henman rose with a decade earlier.

Henman reached four Wimbledon semi-finals and the last four of two other grand slams.

Canadian-born Rusedski’s best at the All England Club was a quarter-final appearance but he was a hard court specialist and became the first Briton for 20 years to reach a grand slam final when he battled his way to the 1997 US Open final where he lost to Pat Rafter.

Murray has reached two Wimbledon semi-finals and three hard court grand slam finals, seemingly on his own. Often without a coach and certainly with little support throughout the home ranks.

How many times has he been the only Briton in the second round at Wimbledon?

That won’t be the case this year. Anne Keothavong and Naomi Broady meet in the first round, ensuring a British woman will reach the round two. And also not if James Ward has anything to do with it.

The 24-year-old son of a London cabbie took the pressure off Murray at Queen’s two weeks ago when he reached the semi-finals.

“I’m just looking forward to watching another Brit in the semi-final,” quipped Murray after dismantling Andy Roddick in his own last-four tie.

Alas, the semi-finals were as far as he got as Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated him in straight sets.

Ward was big news – but do we yet know who he is?

As a teenager, Ward went to Spain to train at Juan Carlos Ferrero’s academy near Valencia and in December 2009 he spent time as Rafael Nadal’s hitting partner.

He now trains at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton and plays mostly on the Challenger Tour, the level below the ATP Tour.

His run at Queen’s catapulted him to a career-high ranking of 176, although he will drop places on Monday after losing in the first round of Eastbourne, a tournament in which he reached the quarter-finals last year.

In 2009 he won a Challenger tournament in Sarasota, Florida, on clay, the first British player to do so at that level or above for more than a decade.

He has impressed since making his Davis Cup debut for Great Britain against Lithuania in March last year. He has won five of his six singles matches, including a five-setter against Turkey’s Malek Jaziri in Bolton in March to clinch victory, and will almost certainly be the second singles player when Andy Murray returns to Davis Cup action against Luxembourg the week after Wimbledon.

He will, of course, hope to once again keep Murray company in the latter rounds of a tournament, but the draw – Ward faces No 25 seed Michael Llodra in round one – has not been particularly kind.

Ward, said: “I’m feeling really confident at the moment with the way I’ve been playing over the last few weeks on grass.

“Llodra will by no means be an easy match. He’s got a really good grass court game, with a big serve and he serves and volleys a lot.

“He won Eastbourne last year so it will be tough but I’m really looking forward to it.

“The support I’ve had over the last fortnight has been amazing and hopefully myself and all the other British players will enjoy exactly the same at Wimbledon because it makes the world of difference.”