Sabine Lisicki on verge of joining Wimbledon greats

Sabine Lisicki, the smiling darling of the Centre Court, has become Wimbledon's favourite German, adopted as an honorary Brit just like Steffi Graf and Boris Becker before her.

But a crippling ankle injury in 2010 as well as a bizarre allergy to grass almost conspired to wreck her dream of ever featuring in a Wimbledon final.

The injury, which kept her off the tour for five months and sent her world ranking plummeting to 218 in the world, left her needing "to learn to walk again".

"That was the hardest time of my life. It was a situation I had never been in before and never want to experience again, I felt so helpless," Lisicki, 23, said. "I always believed in it [getting back to playing]. Always. I can still remember when the doctor told me that I have to be on crutches the next six weeks.

"I was like, OK, when can I get back? That was my first question. That period made me such a much stronger person and player that I know anything is possible after learning how to walk again.

"Coming back to play semis after dropping to 220 in the rankings, anything's possible."