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Despite the grass-court season getting shorter by the decade and losing its relevance in the calendar of ATP and WTA Tours, Wimbledon remains legendary and in full throttle in terms of popularity. On Thursday of the first week, the all-time attendance record for that day was broken with 41,000+ people entering the gates of the All England Club.

It seems Gustavo Kuerten had his share of reality-check. After a series of injuries which resulted in the erosion of his confidence and the fall of his ranking, Guga perhaps realized that he can no longer afford to turn his nose up to the greatest tournament in tennis, yet still be considered one of the "elite" in the business.

So he made the trip to Wimbledon. He lost in the second-round to an always-dangerous Todd Martin. Nevertheless, it was the right move for Guga, one that is far better than the one made last year when he chose to go surfing with his friends on the coasts of Brazil.

Albert Costa and Alex Corretja are still a step behind Guga. They both cited various injuries and managed to be absent not only from Wimbledon, but from the grass court season all together. The last grass court match that Corretja played was in 2001, a 6-0, 6-2 loss to Frenchman Jerome Gollmard in the first-round of Halle, Germany. At the time, that was his first match on grass in three years. Costa has not played Wimbledon for the last four years.

Carlos Moya is also a no-show. It seems the same scenario repeats every year, where many Spanish players develop injuries during grass-court season, only to magically be cured and play a month of continuous clay-court tournaments immediately following Wimbledon. Just keep your eyes on Gstaad, Switzerland and Bastad, Sweden, the site of the two clay-court tournaments immediately following Wimbledon. Hey, at least they have not declared that "grass is for cows," a la Marcelo Rios! Still, they could learn from Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Juan Carlos Ferrero never had to face this "reality-check" moment since he is always willing to bite the bullet and put his best effort forth every year at Wimbledon which usually amounts to a second- or third-round appearance. His "reality-check" is happening right here, this week.

With a brand-new confidence (his coach said he woke up "a different man" on the morning following his victory in Paris) and outlook towards his potential after winning Roland Garros, Juan Carlos now believes in his ability to be the best tennis player on the world for years to come. What better chance than to prove that to himself this week, on his least-favorite surface? His draw has no easy players, but none that will put true doubt into his mind until the middle of the second week.

No, it is not "reality-check" time for Tim Henman, but rather for British fans that seem to be blaming Henman for every failure of British tennis. For starters, the Lawn Tennis Association has been a failure in spreading the sport to the streets of England, experiencing a high turnover rate at the position of Director of Tennis. With above-average volleys, average ground strokes, slightly above-average serves, and with just decent foot-speed, Henman has somehow managed to enter the top-10 and reach the semis for the last four years at Wimbledon under immense pressure.

Yet, he is constantly debased by his country's fans that seem to be indifferent to the repeated failures of so-called promising British up-and-comers who somehow never get up and come, like Arvind Parmar, Alex Bogdanovich, and a few others. Now there is a bunch in need of "reality-checks," along with British tennis fans. None of them made it to the third-round, fans will only a say a few words here and there. But wait until poor Timmy loses. He will be stamped as the ultimate "failure" in the land that created the game of tennis.

Meanwhile, Lleyton Hewitt does not have to worry about being associated with failure. He has gone past that already with two Grand Slam titles, two Masters Cup titles, and by finishing the last two seasons as the top player in the world. The "reality-check" for him to face at the moment is the question of whether he is "the man," or was his success largely owed to his previous coach, Darren Cahill, who now coaches Andre Agassi?

It is also "reality-check" time for some players who possess an attacking style of tennis, yet ever seem to do well in London. A big serve-and-volley player like Max Mrnyi has yet to make it to the second week in Wimbledon. Masters Cup participant and a regular top-15 player Jiri Novak has disappeared quickly in previous Wimbledon appearances. It seems the fast-moving, big-serving Younous El Aynaoui should do well here, but never does. Mark Phillippoussis is quietly here, as well, trying not to have a quiet exit as it has been the case in the past.

How about Andy Roddick? With a new coach and a recent grass-court title in his bag, Wimbledon should be the medicine he may need to break-through in Grand Slams. Let's face it, he has the biggest serve in the game at this moment, and is coming off career victories against the best in the world, just recently.

The common factor with all these players just mentioned is that they are all still here, well alive in the third-round.

Last, but not the least, it's "reality-check" time for the skies. It has been meticulously sunny and toasty above the Centre Court with only a very minor delay on one day so far. Perhaps it would be just fine with us if the skies decide to deny reaching this stage, remain as-is, and postpone that "reality-check" issue until next year.

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