BORIS BECKER couldn't take the heat in Melbourne yesterday and suffered as a young Spaniard ended his title defence. Becker lost a five set tussle on centre court, in temperatures above 100F, to 20 year old Carlos Moya on the first day of the championships.

"My brain is like scrambled eggs," said the 29 year old German, describing his mental condition after a match lasting three hours and 31 minutes.

"I'm really struggling to talk normally because I'm burning, especially my feet and legs are really hot," said Becker, who described Moya, ranked 25, as a dangerous threat before the tournament began.

But if one old hand exited early, the fortunes of Britain's new boy continue to rocket. So rapid have been the events of the new year that Tim Henman, now ranked 14th in the world after his victory in Sydney, has had scant time for reflection.

Yet today, as he prepares for his second round match against the bespectacled Frenchman Guillaume Raoux, the full extent of his remarkable rise will surely cause him to ponder that his life is forever changed.

The expectations will be huge, the pressures increasingly intense. Just a few weeks ago Henman was the hunter now, as one of the world's top 20, he will be hunted himself, with his every potential weakness analysed over and over again.

"Obviously people do take note. Against more and more players I will probably be expected to win. But this is something other people, will focus on. Hopefully, I won't."

Henman was talking after his relatively routine 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 first round victory against Romania's Andrei Pavel who, although the same age, was playing in only his second Grand Slam and appeared both overweight and under prepared.

Even as Henman stepped oft court, Becker was on the verge of being bundled out by Moya, the Spaniard Henman crushed in straight sets in the Sydney final.

Becker had ended last year in the form of his life, winning the Grand Slam Cup in Munich for the first time and, in the semi final, handing out a stern lesson to the British number one.

At the time Becker expressed regret that his season was over and wished that the Australian Open could follow immediately. Five weeks later that superlative indoor form totally deserted him under the fierce Victoria sun.

Twenty years ago the American Roscoe Tanner, the boy from Chattanooga, surrendered his Australian Open title in the first round, and Becker choo chooed down the same dead end line.

Initially it was Becker's backhand that let him down, but by the end his timing on both wings was shot to pieces. "All I had left was my serve," he said morosely, and 17 double faults told their own sorry tale.

Up until 1989 the German, seeded sixth, had never been beaten in the first round of a Grand Slam. Since 1990 he has gone down five times at the opening hurdle, three times in Australia. Yet despite not liking the slowish courts here, or the severity of the sun, Becker has won the title twice and was patently disappointed with his error strewn form.

"There are so many good players that if your are not quite on your game then you are going to struggle," said Henman, who at the beginning of his match battled to put away winners on the spongy surface, his forehand seemingly lacking its usual fizz.

Becker has his own strong thoughts about the way the administrators are attempting to slow the game down, notably with the use of lower pressure balls.

"I felt I didn't get anything out of the balls they are using here. I was forcing it all the time and then lost my timing altogether. There are so many guys getting elbow and wrist injuries on the circuit these days. For us power players these soft balls are a real killer."