Henman crashes out of Australia

Tim Henman described his dramatic five-set defeat to Guillermo Canas as a “bitter pill to swallow” after blowing a two-set lead and 4-1 advantage in the deciding set.

It was an epic battle in the Margaret Court Arena which lasted an incredible four hours and 53 minutes before Canas, the world number 258, won a dramatic 6-7 5-7 7-6 7-5 9-7 victory.

“It was probably a good match to watch but it is about winning and losing and unfortunately I came up just short,” said Henman, who bowed out of the season-opening Grand Slam in the third round.

“There are probably not a whole load of constructive things that I have got to say.

“It will be interesting to look at some of the stats of the match. They were coming up on the scoreboard from time to time and at one stage I saw I hit 96 winners. That is a lot of winners to hit to lose.

“It’s a bitter pill to swallow. Having lost a tight one to him in Paris (at the French Open in 2001), these are the types of matches you have to find a way to get through.”

Every set was tight but Henman edged the first two before Canas responded to force a decider.

“The first couple of sets I was able to win a couple of important points and that was probably the difference,” the British number one said.

“In the next two he won a couple of critical points and that’s the difference. It is very easy to over analyse something like this. Unfortunately he was the winner.

“There is very little difference between us as the scoreline suggests.

“All credit to him. When he was behind in the fifth he came up with some great shots.”

Henman had forged a crucial break in the decider to lead 4-1 and victory appeared to be in sight.

But Canas dug deep again, overcame cramp and pulled himself out of the fire again.

“If you are 4-1 up in the fifth you are obviously in the ascendancy. A professional player knows its certainly not over.

“All credit to him. He hit some great running passing shots to break back at 4-2 and right through the match he was running a lot of balls down, hit some great returns and a lot of lobs which were very effective,” said Henman.

“He competed extremely well as he always does. When he was two sets to love down he hung in there.

“I’m sure in a couple of days time there will be some good points to take out of it.

“In a couple of days when I do reflect on it there will be some positives but we will have to wait and see how long it is.”