Martin Lee is full of hope for the future after making Wimbledon legend Pete Sampras fight all the way on the court he regards as home.

The Sussex star lost their first round tussle yesterday in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3.

But Lee detained Sampras for more than two hours on centre court, where the American has claimed seven titles.

"It was a great honour to play Pete on centre court and play well and give him a good game," Lee said.

"He knew he was in a fight the way I returned. He had to pull out some big serves.

"Against a lot of other people I would probably have won. The way I played gives me a lot of hope."

Lee had 19 break points on the Sampras serve, including two to take the second set.

He only converted one of them, to pull back to 2-1 in the third set, but there was no evidence of the stage fright which engulfed the Worthing left-hander when fellow Brit Tim Henman smashed him 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in round two on the centre court last year.

"I had 19 break points, but there was not one I definitely should have won," said Lee. "I had quite a few chances and Pete served very well on a lot of them.

"It was a hundred times better than last year. It was a new experience for me then and the crowd were with Tim.

"They were great. They got into the match and if I had taken the second set I think the roof would have blown off.

"It's a great feeling to walk onto centre court. Last year I was so nervous and anxious. This year I felt so much better and I enjoyed every minute of it."

Sampras, showing no signs of a rib strain which forced him to pull out of an exhibition match on Saturday, paid tribute to Lee.

"I played okay in spurts," he said. "I thought Martin played really well. He served well and returned quite well.

"I was down a couple of set points and had a couple of tense moments. The first match is always one you just want to get through and I was happy to win in straight sets.

"As long as I am still in it I feel like I'm a big threat. Stepping onto the centre court was like coming home again."