AFP
London, July 7

Men's singles finalist David Nalbandian saw his dream of playing on Centre Court at Wimbledon come true on Sunday - three hours earlier than expected.

The 20-year-old Argentinian, who was scheduled to take on top seed and world number one Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in the final of the men's singles later in the day, had complained that neither his quarter-final match or semi-final clash had taken place on the showpiece court.

But just after 1100 local time, the 28th seeded Nalbandian emerged on to Centre Court to practice with coach Gabriel Markus and to get the feel of the grass ahead of his final against the overwhelming favourite Hewitt which was getting underway at 1400.

"Normally players aren't allowed to practice on Centre Court," said a Wimbledon spokesman.

"But since Nalbandian had never played there before, the referee's office thought it would be a nice gesture to let him have time to get used to it."

The Argentinian has made history by becoming the first man from his country to reach the Wimbledon final and he has achieved that by playing in his first ever senior grasscourt tournament.

He is also the only man to make the final in his debut year at the championships.

The previous best had been by American legend John McEnroe who made it as far as the semi-finals as a qualifier in 1977 before he was beaten by Jimmy Connors.