Bigger game all pain for Henman

Wimbledon Championships :The under-10s with the painted faces looked shocked. No one else

Wimbledon Championships:The under-10s with the painted faces looked shocked. No one else. Tim Henman is out of Wimbledon after he failed to get out of the blocks in his rain-delayed quarter-final match against Sebastien Grosjean.

It finally came down to a sprint finish as the two players came back on court after hours of broken play on Wednesday when the match was left hanging overnight, Grosjean 2-1 up and Henman leading 2-1 in the fourth set.

But it was the Frenchman who held his nerve and had his high twitch muscles moving first on Centre Court, crushing hopes of Henman advancing when he broke in the fourth game and never looked back.

It is unlikely that the British number one will ever have an easier ride again. A lucky loser, two qualifiers, an injured David Nalbandian and finally a French clay court player, ranked three places below, takes the Centre Court and bullies him. Mon dieu!

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Henman will curse his hesitant performance, one that lacked conviction for all but a few flickering games and will come back next year, aged 29, with a pack of younger players led by Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt more experienced and less afraid.

But Grosjean. too, showed the breadth of talent many clay court players now possess. Flashing around court picking up anything loose, it was an audacious shoulder-high backhand that passed Henman at the net, which gave him the important opening for 4-3.

Although Grosjean almost handed the break back with two possible break points in the next game, Henman just didn't have the bigger game to hand or composure to take them. It was Grosjean doing most of the pushing and when he earned a match point on Henman's serve at 4-5, he might easily have ended the match there. As it was, Grosjean won three match points on his own serve, a defensive slice into the net from Henman graphically illustrating what was a lame exit.

Grosjean now becomes only the third French player in the Open era to reach the semi-finals after Henri Leconte in 1986 and Cedric Pioline in 1997. He meets Mark Philippoussis, a player, who unlike Henman, generated virtually no expectation. If Henman is a story of chasing dreams but never catching them, Philippoussis is a story of life imitating fantasy.

Coming back from two sets down against Alexander Popp, the 26-year-old, whose career was in jeopardy after three operations on his knee over 14 months, went on to win the three hour match in five sets, the last set 8-6.

Once again a high ace count of 34 helped the Australian fight his way back into the game where 69 per cent of his first serves were unreturned.

In the top half of the draw both Andy Roddick and Roger Federer came through their respective matches and now meet each other.

Roddick beat Jonas Bjorkman 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 with Federer cutting the injured Sjeng Schalken down in three 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Johnny Watterson

Johnny Watterson

Johnny Watterson is a sports writer with The Irish Times