Tim Henman broke the hearts of British tennis fans this afternoon when he exited Wimbledon in the meekest fashion.
`Henmania' came to the most abrupt of halts as the British number one was defeated 7-6 6-4 6-2 by the 20-year-old brilliance of Croatian Mario Ancic in the quarter-finals.
Henman was simply overpowered in every department of the game, though his inability to switch his tactics from out-and-out serve-and-volley perhaps contributed to his downfall.
It lasted just two hours and 12 minutes and at times the Croatian reduced the Centre Court crowd to silence as his blistering groundstrokes and his powerful serve never let Henman into the match.
The quality of the first set was high and so was the tension as Henman managed to save one set point in the 12th game as Ancic piled on the pressure with a flurry of blistering groundstrokes before the set went to a tie-break.
Both players began it with aces but it was Ancic who made the decisive first move with a wonderful return which Henman could only dump into the net. A lucky net cord saw Antic take four points in a row for a 5-2 lead.
A wild Henman backhand then gave Ancic three set points and while the Briton saved the first with a perfect volley and the next after a long return, the Croatian wrapped up the tie-break 7-5 with a brilliant unreturnable second serve.
A wave of anxiety seemed to resonate around Centre Court as Henman had played some of his best tennis and yet still found himself trailing.
Ancic was beginning to read the Henman serve and the pressure brought five double faults in total in Henman's first two service games of the second set. It allowed Ancic to grab the first break of serve of the match in the fifth game and the crowd were beginning to fear the worst.
The nerves were beginning to fray all around Centre Court and even the cool Ancic cracked in the next game with two double faults in succession to allow Henman back into the game.
However, Henman immediately play his worst game of the match, a wonderful double-handed backhand from the Croatian and then the weakest of volleys into the net from Henman giving Ancic the advantage once more.
The Croatian halted the sequence of three breaks of serve in succession and was clearly managing his nerves better than his opponent.
One ripping backhand from Henman looked to have given him a chance but then he fired a wild forehand long and Ancic polished off the set 6-4 with the crispest of volleys to take control of the match.
Henman was struggling on his first serve and being punished by the fabulous returns of Ancic and when the Croatian won Henman's service to love in the third game a silence descended on Centre Court.
Henman simply seemed incapable of changing his serve-and-volley tactics to trouble the Croatian. He also seemed incapable of winning his own serve, going down 4-1 in the third set when Ancic produced a superb forehand return.
The crowd chanted `Henman' in one last bid to rouse their man but the end was seemingly inevitable. And so it proved, Ancic eventually serving out to clinch the set and the match.