Henman bows out

Tim Henman has bowed out of Grand Slam tennis with a second-round defeat at the US Open.

Henman, who will turn 33 next month, announced last week that he is to quit after Britain's Davis Cup world group play-off with Croatia at Wimbledon next month.

The former world number four was beaten 7-6 2-6 7-5 6-4 by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France at Flushing Meadow.

Though he admitted that he would have liked to have won Wimbledon, having reached the semi-finals four times, Henman said he had few regrets about his career.

"When I reflect on my career, I think I maximised my potential. This is as good as I could have been," he said.

Henman reached the semi-finals at two of the other three grand slam events - the French Open and US Open, both in 2004 - and reached a career-high ranking of fourth in 2002. He won 11 titles.

The back injury that had troubled him for the past three years flared up earlier this month when he arrived in the United States for the ATP event in Washington. Playing in pain, Henman said, was what convinced him to quit.

"I feel that with the level of tennis I've played and the things I've been able to achieve in tennis I didn't want to just keep plugging away and get the limited rewards I was going to get. That was the time when I sat down with (coach) Paul (Annacone) and knew that I wanted to stop."

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