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Friday, 5 July, 2002, 18:58 GMT 19:58 UK
Henman suffers hardest defeat
Henman has lost every time he has played Hewitt
The Queen's Jubilee omens counted for nothing as Tim Henman's Wimbledon dreams foundered at the semi-final stage for the fourth time in five years. And with all the main contenders kindly ruling themselves out of the bottom half of the draw, Henman said that this defeat was the hardest of all to take.
"It was a semi-final, but I think the person who came through the top half was definitely going to be the favourite for the final," he said. How Henman must wish Sjeng Schalken had just been able to hold on against Hewitt on Thursday when twice leading by a break in the fifth set.
Sadly Britain will have to wait for the great event it craved - and I don't mean Pat Cash wearing one of Sue Barker's dresses. While Pete Sampras was once Henman's nemesis, beating him in two Wimbledon semis, Hewitt is now taking on that role. Henman has still never beaten the Australian. "He was too good today," said Henman honestly. "I'll give him all the credit he deserves. "The way he adapts to any surface - he is the best player in the world and today he proved that."
After Henman had started brightly, Hewitt won 10 out of 11 games from the end of the first set to put himself two sets and a break up.
There was simply no coming back. Henman produced his best match of the tournament, but the winners flew off Hewitt's racquet left, right, and lobbed over the top.
Hewitt was generous in defeat: "I thought he came out and put everything on the line - it was pretty high quality stuff out there," he said. "I like playing in big occasions," said Hewitt. "I like the big match." He can now look forward to an even bigger occasion on Sunday.
"Sitting back at home and watching Pat Cash win Wimbledon - it's what every Australian kid who picks up a tennis racquet dreams of," said Hewitt. But if those are his sentiments, you can probably multiply that feeling by 10 times for Henman. Looking visibly distraught in his post-match news conference, Henman said he would not be able to bring himself to watch the final. And while he is bound to face criticism for once again failing to reach a Wimbledon final, his record in SW19 remains a credit to him. "Looking at my game in the big picture I need to perform better in other tournaments," he said. "If I played as well in other tournaments as I do here my ranking would be even higher. "When I reflect on the last fortnight, I know that I've given it my best shot, and that's good enough for me. "But I'm sure for others that won't be good enough."
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