Henman

Tim Henman has just lost in three sets to Leyton Hewitt at Queens in the semi-finals. He lost the first 6-3, won the second 6-3 and then succumbed after going 2-0 up in the third, 6-2.

Sadly. Henman wasn't undone by his own abilities or fitness; he was undone by some of the worst line-calling and umpiring I have had the misfortune to watch. Not one, two or even three dodgy line calls - but five or six all went in Hewitt's favour, three in a single game. Those three came when Tim had broken Hewitt in the second set, and one cost him game point at 40-30. Thankfully he survived those calls, but couldn't survive when 2-1 up and serving at 30-40. The ball clipped the back of the line - quite obviously on the Hawkeye replay - but despite initially calling it good, the linesman changed his or her opinion after Hewitt made a noise. The umpire - having overruled in Hewitt's favour incorrectly already earlier in the match - confirmed the line judge's position. Henman was broken back, and never recovered.

You can talk about mental toughness, but having endured a string of poor decisions - all wrong - there's only so much a player can take while all that nervous energy courses through their veins. Clearly watching tennis is not the same as playing it, but I felt my nervous energy dip after that call cost Tim his break and - ultimately - the match.

They say Queens will be using Hawkeye next year - what a shame it came a year too late on what was probably Henman's last realistic chance of winning the title. Every single one of those dodgy calls was wrong, and every single one had gone in Hewitt's favour. In both cases mentioned above, Henman could have appealed to Hawkeye and would have been proved right.