LONDON -- First he beats Pete Sampras the first time they play -- Miami in March. Then he pushes him off his own playground -- Centre Court at the All-England Club where The Pistol has won a few times. Finally, he absolutely steals the spotlight not only from Sampras but also from everything else in the whole Wimbledon shebang -- British players frolicking across the show courts, Jennifer Capriati here, Serena Williams there.

It didn't matter. Nebraska's own Andy Roddick exploded all over the hallowed greensward on Wednesday and smack into this tennis-crazed country's consciousness -- not only accepting his second-round appearance on the sport's biggest stage as if it was just another Cornhusker summer practice; not only looking like he was playing his seventh year (rather than his seventh match) on grass; but solidly whipping the 11th seed, Thomas Johansson, a veteran Swede who had won the past two Wimby warm-up tournaments and was the hottest guy on the circuit.

It wasn't merely that The Body Shop -- well, you figure out a better nickname; the London-based skincare chain is owned by the now next famous Roddick, Anita -- beat Johansson, 7-6 (1), 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (3). He out-clutched him in the tiebreakers, sacrificing only one and three points. He served his usual buck-thirty (130 mph) bangers, acing his elder 21 times with 37 more service winners. And he proved he's hardly a one-trick Husker, as well, contriving sophisticated sliders up the line and coming to net when he wasn't winning rallies from the base with his fearsome forehand.

"You have to try to keep away from his forehand because [it's] really good. He can hit it anywhere on the court," said Johansson, who had won the past two grass court events at Rosmalen (Holland) and Nottingham and who actually out-aced Roddick with 25 of his own, 13 in the first set, five in one game.

Having subsisted on fish and chips for a couple of weeks already -- Roddick played Queen's and Nottingham himself -- the American teen's huge game, fan-friendly nature and popularity among the Brits preceded him into the gates off Church Road. Despite that, when he defeated qualifier Ivo Heuberger in the first round, Roddick was relegated to Court 18 out behind the press building, for Pete's sake.

Speaking of which, come the second round, when Sampras found himself shoved off Centre to Court One, he obviously was so infuriated he decided to make the entire country suffer. So he cruelly rope-a-doped one Barry Cowan, the legendary left-handed Lancashireman -- ranked (we are not making this up) 265 in the world -- into thinking he could win, shined on sets three and four and kept everyone missing dinner until nearly 9 p.m. before winning, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 4-6, 6-3.

Meanwhile, back in reality, Roddick got the mid-afternoon match, the celebrity slot, just after S. Williams and just before homeboy Tim Henman. Nonetheless, his ballcap turned (stop the presses) frontward this time, his V-neck T-shirt sleeves hanging below his elbows, Roddick looked as relaxed as if he was chilling out at his favorite U2 concert.

"I got goose bumps walking out there," he said. But relaxed? "Yeah. You know, I like playing in those type of situations rather than out on Court Whatever, with nobody watching. I definitely wasn't expecting to be on Centre," said Roddick, who turned out to be the first teenager to win there since Michael Chang in 1990. "When I saw the schedule, I was looking at the other courts. 'Where am I?' Then I looked at Centre. 'All right. Cool.'"

But it was all heavy heat for Johansson.

"He has one of the best serves in the game," said Johansson, a 26-year-old from Linkoping, who has won six tournaments and been a quarterfinalist at the U.S. Open twice but couldn't cope with Roddick's killer delivery. "It's really tough to read because he has a great kick out wide on the ad side. Sometimes it doesn't matter if you're there. You cannot return it because it's so hard and with a lot of spin."

Sampras was 20 and in his fourth year on tour before he trod the regal sod of Centre. Andre Agassi, 21 and in his sixth year. It took the 17-year-old Becker four matches at his first Wimbledon to make Centre, John McEnroe (18) six matches to make it there, Stefan Edberg (20) two tournaments and ten matches. Both Jimmy Connors (at 20) and Bjorn Borg (17) made their debut matches on Centre -- rendering Roddick's appearance relatively lightweight. Except for this: the comparison is to heavyweights who've combined for 17 Wimbledon titles.

Roddick certainly played like a future champ -- or a raw kid who has no idea how difficult the game is -- on the few occasions he needed to. On a break point against him early in the first set, he slugged a 117 mph second serve to hold. On a set point against him in the twelfth game of the first, he slugged another huge second to save. Between blowing away Johansson in the breakers, he also faced four break points in the fourth game of the fourth set.

Boom! Whack! Bang! Splat! (Ace... service winner.. overhead...service winner.) School's out.

"That's too good," acknowledged Johansson. "It's really, really tough to do something about his first serve and especially second serve, too ... He's only 18. I mean, sometimes you can see that. But sometimes he's very mature when he's playing."

"I was saying 'Please don't lose this point,'" Roddick said of his mini-crisis. "I just wanted to keep going for it."

That included going for the bow to the royal box afterward, as well. Well, sort of royal. It was the uh, excuse the expression, lowerlife branch of England's first family who observed Roddick's victory: HRH Princess Michael of Kent -- otherwise known as "Princess Pushy" and her ne'er-do-well son Lord Frederick (Freddy) Windsor once infamously seen totally whacked on cocaine.

Ah, well. Roddick savored the moment anyway.

"[Centre Court] is a place like Wrigley Field or Fenway Park or something," he said afterward while wearing, naturally, a New York Yankees cap, and double naturally, backward. Then he explained why he slipped his player ID card back on before he left the court. "I get stopped everywhere," he laughed. "Eighteen guys will be walking before me. I'll be the one they (security) point out. I guess they think I'm trying to sneak into the locker rooms."

Or sneak off with Sampras' championship.

Curry Kirkpatrick is covering Wimbledon for ESPN The Magazine, E-mail him at curry.kirkpatrick@espnmag.com.