Love match

Now, on the eve of his leaving the world of professional tennis, he's granted a wild card, allowing him to play his final Wimbledon tournament.

At one time having faced some of the best players in the world, Colt is now about to face voluntary retirement, a job at a club and a bevy of aging women awaiting tennis instruction in between facials and afternoon drinks.

American Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst), the rising star/bad girl of the international tennis set, is the promising new hotshot playing at her first Wimbledon.

Focused, driven and pushed by her equally driven, overprotective coach and father, Dennis (Sam Neill), Lizzie lets nothing get in her way of the win - not a bad call, not an unexpected return and certainly not a short-lived romance with fellow rising American champ Jake Hammond (Austin Nichols).

Lizzie's career trajectory is set to be the best female tennis player in the world, a Grand Slam champ. No other dream will doand the Wimbledon trophy would be a great place to start.

Peter's plans of quiet retirement are put on hold after he arrives at the hallowed courts of The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club's Wimbledon Championships.

There, after a chance meeting with Lizzie that sparks into an affair, he achieves the unthinkable and wins his first match. Fuelled by a mixture of his new-found luck, love and on-court prowess, Peter continues his winning streak, gradually working his way up the ranks while the sport and its fans re-embrace this faded and now refurbished star.

The not-so-young Brit finds that the world loves a winner - and none more so than his usually absent agent, Ron Roth (Jon Favreau) - and he begins to appreciate the long-forgotten taste of victory. Meanwhile, Lizzie finds that her penchant for tournament flings may be at an end when she does the unthinkable and begins to fall for this British used-to-be loser with the heart of a winner.

Working Title, the filmmakers behind a string of romantic comedies, including Notting Hill and Bridget Jones's Diary, snapped up the story for Wimbledon after being approached by screenwriters Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin.

"We loved the idea," says producer and Working Title Films co-founder Eric Fellner. "The way in which the characters were set up, the fact that it was an underdog' type of story and the idea of professional tennis serving as the backdrop for this love story - it had all the ingredients to make a great film. It provided us another opportunity to tell an interesting story in an appealing way."

Kirsten Dunst explains what drew her to the film: "I really liked the script - it was a smart romantic comedy and I also like the elements of the tennis. I think there is something really sexy about tennis - it has an elegance to it. I am also a big fan of the producers and I knew they would make a good love story." Although the actress had little experience playing tennis, she was attracted to the character of Lizzie, and was ready to take on the physical challenges of the role.

"I found Lizzie very interesting and a lot of fun to play," she says. "Here's this champion who has shut out the possibility of love from her life in the interest of winning. She's competitive and aggressive. And then she meets Peter, whom she really respects. Up to that point, she's been able to use men and throw them away and it hasn't really bothered her. But she's able to let herself fall in love with Peter, and that changes everything."

Paul Bettany had not worked in a romantic comedy before, so the role of Peter Colt was something completely new to him.

"The script struck me as clever and funny," says Bettany. "I've never done a sports movie and I've never done a sort of comedy/drama, so I thought it would be a challenge. In building a character, it's about approximating the role; every job you do is only a representation of something.

"My last film I played a ship's surgeon, but I wouldn't want to operate on anyone. So with training, I thought I could approximate being a tennis player, even though I'm not. And the falling in love bit, well, that's the easy part."

"Kirsten's character feels that she can't have a career and a relationship at the same time," continues Bettany, "while my character actually plays better tennis once he's fallen in love with her. I think it's one of the interesting things that was built into the script."

Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash was charged with turning the actors (Bettany, Nichols and Dunst) into facsimiles of contending Wimbledon champions. All began a pre-shoot, four month training regime to prepare for the on-screen matches.

Cash says: "The production needed a tennis advisor, a consultant to choreograph the points and to make sure that Kirsten, Paul and Austin looked like professional tennis players. The goal of this training was to get command of the basics - how pros walk, hold the ball, that kind of stuff - and help them look like real players. The points need to look like real points and the rallies have to be there.

"It ended up being coaching in reverse," explains Cash, "in that when I start with a player, it's all about getting the ball in the court - it's doesn't matter what it looks like. But since we had the luxury of most of the balls being CG (computer generated), it came back to making the play look as real as possible."