A different ball game and for a change, England beat Brazil

That Henman was spared a humiliating dressing-down in front of a Centre Court crowd he calls his own owed more to his Brazilian opponent’s inexperience – Sa had not passed the second round in 10 previous Grand Slam attempts – than anything the fourth seed produced.

“I know I wasn’t always in control,” the Briton readily admitted afterwards, adding: “You can’t expect that, this is Wimbledon.” Re-starting his rain-interrupted quarter-final a set to the good on Thursday at midday (1100 GMT), Henman’s tenuous grip on tactics and inability to still his nerves left him dizzy on the ropes and short of ideas.

At a time when the rest of the world is trying to serve faster and harder, Henman’s simply baffling tactic of slowing his delivery down laid the foundations of what was beginning to look like yet another monument to miserable defeat.

He stepped onto Centre Court for his high noon shoot-out with his weaponry loaded with blanks. Sa out-hit him from the back and belted a succession of under-strength serves straight back at the Briton.

Sa was solid, determined, alert and prepared to fight for every point — none of which applied to Henman in the early stages.