Henman waves goodbye for another year

Just before 4.20pm on Thursday, and a 32-year-old with a dodgy frame had the crowd screaming at the top of its xenophobic lungs for a final time at this All England Championships. Who knows? Maybe for the last time, period, and with it the passing of a rite of summer, that tortured cry from within Centre Court of "Come on, Tim..."

Like a dragonfly, Tim Henman's life-span during this tournament was transitory, though not quite as fleeting as we might have expected. The British No 2 imposed himself on our consciousness, and specifically on those of his fanatical supporters, during two keenly fought five-setters, the defeat of Carlos Moya and the elimination by Feliciano Lopez, before he departed Centre Court, heaving those kit bags on shoulders which have for so long borne an unreasonable burden of home expectancy.

Unsurprisingly, the only Briton here by right of his ranking - of the others, 10 had wildcard entries and another was a qualifier - was the last British competitor standing. At the start of the week, we had counted them out. By Terminal Thursday, we had counted them all back in. In the absence of Andy Murray it was a home guard as seemingly ill-prepared for the task as Captain Mainwaring's mob. And Tiger Tim, from a position of authority on the subject, roared his discontent as he surveyed the wreckage of British ambition, damning the "acceptance of mediocrity".

He was not alone. In one of those periodic bouts of self-recrimination which British tennis so relishes, it duly inflicted on itself a particularly bloody nose. We've been here before many times, of course, and once again the name of Fred Perry, three times champion in the 1930s and inexorably linked with Wimbledon, was hoisted aloft to taunt the current generation.

Some will contend that the British game is no more likely to stagger to its feet this time around than in previous years. Yet there are positive signs: in the recruitment of leading coaches, including Brad Gilbert; the appointment of Roger Draper, the former Sport England chief executive, as LTA chief 14 months ago; and improved facilities, including the £30 million National Tennis Centre at Roehampton. And, not least, there is hope in the shape of an exasperated Henman, the former world No 4 renaissance man, who will remain a valuable sphere of influence, even when his on-court appearances finally draw to a close. As Draper says of him: "He works harder than everybody else and sets the example in terms of discipline and training."

Just as crucially, there is also Murray, on this occasion the too-good-to-hurry man following his wrist injury, but a player who can demonstrate that you don't need rounded English vowels to match your exquisite volleys to succeed at the highest level in tennis. In the brooding yet inspirational presence of the 20-year-old Scot, the British game has a character who can instil a sense of "cool" into a sport damned by perception.

That is always assuming that youth gets its chance to flourish in the first place at local level. Here, inclusivity has to be the watchword. "It's important that clubs encourage the kids," says John Lloyd, Britain's Davis Cup captain. "Some don't like them playing at all, and if they do they shove them on at eight o'clock at night when the adults have had their fill. If they [children] are not encouraged, those clubs' allocation of Wimbledon tickets should be stopped."

He adds: "One area Roger Draper is concentrating on is at the grass roots; making the tennis clubs in this country much more open, and not as stiff as they are. We've got to show people that this is not a public school sport. At the moment it still has that upper-class image, and we've got to change that. I think Andy Murray could have a big say in that when he wins a Grand Slam event, which I think he will at some stage. If there are 100 people who take up sport, unfortunately only one will take up tennis. We need to poach them from sports like football and show them that tennis is the sport to play."

However, even when talent which can be nurtured exists, the suspicion prevails that too many British performers lack a real desire, preferring to operate in a comfort zone and whingeing when they awake to discover their insular world has tilted slightly on its axis. Hence the charge of the Briton Josh Goodall, world ranking 226, that the suspension of his coach, Peter Lundgren (after complaints he had been slurring when addressing a training conference last weekend) was an explanation for him underperforming in his straight-sets defeat. Paul Annacone, Henman's coach and the LTA's head coach of men's tennis, spoke for many when he declared: "This is Wimbledon, and if you are a professional athlete and confronted with adversity then it's about accepting the challenge that's put in front of you."

Whether it is an absence of real craving for success among too many British performers compared with their counterparts in countries such as Serbia, which has contrived to produce three players in the world's top 10, or whether it is a dearth of tennis courts contrasted with France, who have 12 men in the top 100, is difficult to identify. But at least Draper is confronting the problem square-on. Even before Wimbledon, he had issued a warning to those not prepared to invest fully in the future, of their own game and of British tennis. The week's events have merely confirmed how apposite were his words.

"We only really need to support the players that have got a hard-work ethic - players who are prepared to go the extra mile, on and off the court," he had said. "Probably my biggest disappointment this last year was that the behaviour of people in British tennis is not really conducive to winning and success."

And this, probably the most pertinent observation: "People have got to either get behind what we're trying to do or go and do something else."

The morning before Henman eventually capitulated, Katie O'Brien, the British women's No 1, though more significantly the world 154, had her limitations exposed in the second round, cruelly so, by the Dutch teenager Michaëlla Krajicek.

At least her progress to round two will propel O'Brien to 120 in the world, and she spoke enthusiastically of improvement. "Hopefully I can crack into the top 100 sooner rather than later," she said.

Yet then asked about Draper's observation that one of the problems of British tennis was "changing the culture and making sure that our athletes are educated, not just from a social point of view, but from a strength and conditioning point of view", O'Brien confessed: "For me, I could definitely be in better shape. But I'm in much better shape than I was earlier this year. At least I'm moving in the right direction. I know it's an area I need to work on."

Some may observe that, at her age, 21, it's a bit late for that. But there at least was a refreshing honesty about that admission, and her agreement that LTA criticism of British players was justified.

"I think so. I mean, the LTA have given all the players fantastic opportunities," she said. "I think some people just sit there and take it, don't put in the hard work themselves." In a week of soul-searching for British tennis, such candour at least is a move off the baseline of complacency.