Ralph Lauren has been sponsoring the All England Lawn Tennis Championships since 2006 and has extended their sponsorship deal through 2015, outfitting all on-court officials and, to the recent dismay of the BBC, one of their commentators, Boris Becker.
But then they also lost their first game in the championships in England four years ago and went all the way to the final before losing to Germany at Wembley.
But probably not as upset as the fan who had travelled to England especially for the Championships and queued overnight (without a tent) to catch a glimpse of the defending champion - on whom he had placed a substantial bet.
One of the products of the successful Everton Academy has been 18-year-old forward Toni Duggan, who was a part of the side that lifted the cup two years ago and has also won the Euro 2009 Under-19 Championships with England.
Last year she switched sporting allegiance from Kenya to Britain and made an impressive start at the British Championships before representing England at last year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
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Hopes of a trading recovery are slipping as the chances of England qualifying for the 2008 European Championships drop.
Despite Spain's success in the European Championships, a tournament England failed to qualify for, the Manchester United defender says his team-mates are confident they can return with a positive result.
But prior to moving to England, he steered Auckland to four provincial championships and two second-place finishes.
He has been England's representative in the 2000 European Championships, and at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.
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Lita, 22, who scored three goals for England in the recent Under-21 European Championships, is reportedly interesting Sunderland and Portsmouth.
After losing 3-2 to Croatia at Wembley and blowing their chance to qualify for next summer's European Championships in Austria and Switzerland, England players struggled to look to the future.
Craig Naylor of Wasdale and James Oliver of Jedburgh, fresh from a week at a training camp in Central Brittany last week, were joined by twenty other wrestlers from the North of England who travelled to take part in the Brittany Backhold Championships at Guipavas, near Brest in France.
If PSG eventually win the French title with the former England captain's help it would mean he had won championships in four separate countries.
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The issue of racism has plagued the buildup to the 14th European Championships, with relatives of at least two black England players choosing not to travel to Poland and Ukraine for fear of being abused.
Anna will return during The Championships to tell us about her first experience of the All England Club.
The 43-year-old won 66 international caps for England before becoming the first woman to gain the Uefa Pro-Licence coaching award and leading England to the final of last year's women's European Championships.
One of the most poignant honours is for Ripley, who played rugby for England and the British Lions, ran the 400m at the UK athletics championships and nearly made it into the Boat Race crew at the age of 50.
Although England reached the quarter-finals of the 2007 World Cup and the final of the 2009 European Championships, Powell is wary of expecting too much.
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Egypt are one of four African nations competing in the World Youth Championships - which start on 27 November - and have been drawn in Group D alongside Colombia, England and Japan.
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