Britain's biggest sport losers

After three years of blood, sweat and tears, in all corners of the world, British tennis player Robert Dee has finally won his first match.

The 21-year-old, dubbed the 'worst player in the world', grinded out a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Arzhang Derakhshani in a qualifying section of a futures event at the 55th attempt. But he was brought down to earth when he immediately lost 6-3, 6-1 to Poland's Artur Romanowski.

Dee's tennis adventures have been all around the planet, with defeats in Iran, Senegal, Colombia, Botswana, Venezuela, Rwanda, Kenya, Sudan, Mexico, the United States, Norway, Holland and Spain. Almost all of his tennis has been played at Futures tournaments, which are the lowest rung of the proper professional circuit and a long way from the glamour and the money of appearing at the Monte Carlo Country Club, where Andy Murray is this week. Dee's travel expenses must run to hundreds of thousands of pounds. And yet he has won a fraction of that back in prize-money.

Victory for journeyman Dee, who registered a career ranking high of 1466 in May 2005, has proved a double-edge sword.

While basking in his glorious moment in Barcelona, he can also lay claim to being the joint record holder of the longest losing streak in the history of the game, alongside Guatemala's Diego Beltranena.

When it comes to sporting failures, Britain performs quite well, especially in recent times:

1. Eddie ‘the Eagle’ Edwards

The bespectacled plasterer became a national treasure at the 1988 Winter Olympics. Edwards became Britain’s first and only ski jumper to reach the Olympic Games because he had no rivals and was the only choice for the BOA.
Fully-self funded, he won plenty of hearts but at 20lb heavier than his nearest competitor he fell short of winning medals, finishing last in the 70m and 90m events.

2. England cricket team 2006-07: From Ashes to dust

After the euphoria of winning the Ashes the previous summer, Duncan Fletcher's men became 5-0 whipping boys Down Under. Reasons for England’s fall from grace included team selection – Monty Panesar was overlooked for the first couple of Tests. Injuries - England missed Michael Vaughan, Simon Jones and Marcus Trescothick, while the finger was also pointed at the cricketing WAGS who were granted an extended stay on tour.

3. Jimmy White

British loser or national treasure? Don’t get the housewives started. Six Crucible finals, and six defeats with his close but no cigar moment coming in the 1994 final when he lost 18-17 to nemesis Stephen Hendry. Matthew Stevens is hot on the heels of the Whirlwind after two final failures - his most notable, the 2000 defeat to Mark Williams where he surrendered a 14-10 lead to lose 18-16.

4. England’s Euro 2008 squad under Steve McClaren

The 'wally with the brolly' couldn't lead England's 'golden generation' to this summer's Euro finals. Failure to reach a major tournament for the first time since the 1994 World Cup shambles could cost the British economy £2 billion. On a positive note McClaren's subsequent dismissal allowed the FA to ring in a new era with Fabio Capello's arrival...

And three other great losing streaks:

1. Italy’s Andrea de Cesaris holds the longest career in F1 without a race victory – 208 races between 1980-1994.

2. Birmingham boxer Pete Buckley, who has faced Prince Naseem Hamed, Scott Harrison and Gavin Rees during his career, went 80 fights without a win between Oct 2003 and Dec 2007. Of his 291 professional fights he has suffered 249 defeats.

3.  The Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't win a single game during their first season in the NFL in 1976. They were an embarrassing 0-14 and outscored 412-125. When they finally won a game the following season, more than 8,000 fans turned up at the airport to congratulate them.