Todd Martin, one of the more cerebral and modest players on the circuit, remarked with heavy irony at the weekend that "most people don't have to talk about themselves as much as we sports players do. Compare me to most ordinary folk and I'm a prima donna like no other."

So it was that around 2.30 a.m. yesterday on an excessively humid New York morning, Tim Henman found himself talking about his third-round five-set defeat against Holland's Richard Krajicek, 6-4 3-6 4-6 7-5 7-5, and trying to make sense of what was another extremely disappointing result in a slam event.

When asked what those back home might think when they discovered he had double-faulted on match point down, the last of no fewer than 17 double faults, Henman replied: "It's irrelevant. I know what I need to do. I know where I'm going. I'll achieve it. At the moment I feel frustration, anger, whatever, but you've got to learn from it. I felt so good out there. I felt ready to play the best of seven sets. Fitness was not a problem.

"Twelve months ago I didn't have a clear direction of what I was trying to do. Now I'm channelling my efforts in the right way."

And what he says he needs to do, which will hardly come as a revelation to those who have followed Henman's career, is to improve his second serve.

Henman, his self-belief high, had expected to beat Krajicek, the 1996 Wimbledon champion. Instead he suffered his fourth successive five-set defeat in this year's four slam events, and for the fourth time was unable to justify his seeding.

He failed to convert three break points on Krajicek's opening serve, then a double fault presented the Dutchman with the chance to take the initiative in the third game which he duly did, enough to win the first set. Thereafter Henman surged back, serving consistently, volleying brilliantly and hitting numerous sublime backhands to lead by two sets to one. All seemed well.

However, the Dutchman's serve is a mighty weapon, and faced with its unrelenting power the hairline cracks in Henman's game began to widen. In the 12th game of the fourth set, when leading 30-0, he double-faulted three times, and Krajicek levelled. As Wally Masur, Australia's Davis Cup coach, remarked: "Henman is still prone to outrageous mistakes at this level."

The disparity on serve was pivotal. Krajicek served 25 aces and seven double faults; Henman served four aces and those 17 double faults - a 31-point advantage for the Dutchman.

When Krajicek, who has won 17 career titles compared with Henman's four, found himself at 5-5 and 0-30 in the final set, he thrashed down three aces. In the next game Henman committed a rare but telling volleying error and two more double faults.

With the pressure on, Krajicek hit his weight and Henman crumpled.