The trouble with the sort of inexplicable failure Tim Henman experienced in the first round of the Australian Open against France's Jerome Golmard yesterday, a player outside the top 100, is that it immediately sheds a deep retrospective shadow of gloom over all the British player's endeavours and progress during the last two years.
Henman had no explanation for his wretched form, neither did his coach, David Felgate. But he has not suddenly become a bad player. What may be true, and this will hurt, is that he is not as good as he would like to think he is.
Everyone can appreciate Henman's talents; he is capable of shots that other players can only dream about. But as his career unfolds it is becoming increasingly clear that the British number two may always be a painter of miniatures.
Faced with a large canvas, and there are no bigger than the four Grand Slams, he is prone immediately to slap on any amount of vivid colour without any real thought of the overall structure and the final picture.
Henman so desperately wants to impress; Golmard said after his four hour 6-3, 6-7, 6-2, 3-6, 11-9 victory that he sensed from the start that Henman was intent on proving, with a series of spectacular shots, that he was now by far the better player.
The two knew each other from the Satellite and Challenger circuit but whereas Henman has moved into the top 20 the Frenchman, largely because of a series of debilitating injuries, has edged backwards.
Golmard, who has played little since retiring during the US Open with a shoulder injury, had to qualify for the first round and should have been no real threat to Henman had the latter played with the same degree of solid application which saw Greg Rusedski through to the second round with a 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over another qualifier, David Witt of the US.
Witt posed problems all right but Rusedski, seeded five, concentrated on his own game and limited unforced errors to a minimum. Eventually Witt's own weaknesses were revealed, and Rusedski capitalised.
"The key to the Grand Slams is getting past the first week. Once you've done that you can start to talk about contending," he said. Two seeds out of contention yesterday were Austria's Thomas Muster, the number eight seed and Croatia's unpredictable Goran Ivanisevic, the number 13.
Rusedski next plays another American, Jonathan Stark, who took him to five sets in the second round of Wimbledon last year. The twist this time is that Stark is being coached by Brian Teacher, whose contract with Rusedski was terminated after the British number one reached the US Open final, Tony Pickard having since taken Teacher's place.
Henman was in no mood to make excuses after this ignominious defeat, although neither did he offer any real answers. "It's the worst tennis I think I have ever played. For someone of my ability there's no way I can let this happen." He might have said `keep happening', for his last five Grand Slams have now ended in severe anti-climax after promising beginnings, the French Open excepted.
So why is his form prone to fall away so sharply, or fluctuate so wildly? Before this tournament, at the Sydney Open, he defeated Pat Rafter, the world's number two in the semi-finals and then, after leading 4-0 in the final, was again unaccountably beaten by Karol Kucera of Slovakia.
"I can't explain it. I'm making too many errors. I'm capable of playing a lot of different ways but today there was not a lot there," Henman said. Just before Christmas John McEnroe suggested that Henman "gets himself over to New York and I'll kick his ass". McEnroe had previously tipped him to get into the top 10, but clearly recognises the British player needs to toughen up if his talent is not to be dissipated.
As long as Henman keeps producing such anaemically incongruous performances, and for no apparent reason, the pressure will grow for him to get another coach.
However, it may simply be that for all his undoubted talent and ability as a shot maker, Henman will never possess the ruthless single-mindedness and implacable concentration required of a Grand Slam champion. He may just not have the sliver of ice in his heart.
