At the start of each year, Tim Henman is asked the same question. And, in late June or early July, the English number one gives the same answer.

"I have never hidden behind the fact that Wimbledon is the one tournament which I would love to win the most," said Henman after yesterday's devastating straight-sets defeat to unseeded Croatian Mario Ancic.

Last year he was admitting "If I didn't think I could still win Wimbledon there'd be no point in playing", after being dumped out of the competition by Sebastien Grosjean.

Stock answers to a stock question but, at some point, Henman is going to have face up to the prospect of failing to achieve the one feat which has come to eclipse everything else in his long and illustrious career.

And, as the hands of time continue to move relentlessly onwards, that moment could be now.

"The reality is that I don't have an endless number of years of chances and I felt this was a good opportunity," he added, once the initial dejection of defeat to Ancic turned into more laconic reflection.

Time is a notoriously unforgiving opponent. Far too many sportsmen have battled in vain against the advancing years and found, to their cost, that there can only be one winner.

Henman will turn 30 in September - not particularly old in the context of most sports, but positively ancient in a tennis world dominated by teenage proteges and emerging stars.

"At 33, that's it," he revealed in January. So, in terms of Wimbeldon, it's one down, three to go.

Every 12 months seems to represent Henman's best chance of winning at SW19 but this year, more than most, looked like being the one.

For starters, the number five seed entered the tournament buoyed by his incredible run to the semi-finals of the French Open.

Previous appearances at Roland Garros had ended in humiliation and heartbreak but, for once, Henman looked confident and assured on his least favoured surface.

His serve was back to its very best, his ground strokes were better than they had ever been and, in coming through two epic five-set encounters, Henman displayed a mental resolve so conspicuously lacking in the past.

His early displays at Wimbledon were patchy, but the clinical manner in which he dispatched Mark Philippoussis to make the last eight seemed to suggest he was running into form at just the right time.

Surely a quarter-final clash against an opponent ranked some 57 places below him would represent the ideal route into the last four?

On paper, maybe. But, on the court, all of Henman's old failings reappeared in a display that left him as far from his dream of winning Wimbledon as ever.

Forget Andy Roddick in the semi-final and Roger Federer on Sunday - a 20-year-old novice was good enough to bring Henman to his knees.

But, while yesterday's defeat came at the hands of a big-serving Croatian, it is a similar reverse in 2001 that continues to haunt the English number one.

Henman held a two sets to one lead over Goran Ivanisevic when the weather interrupted their semi-final.

Continuous rain showers ruined the Englishman's flow, forced the game to be played over three days, and eventually led to Ivanisevic winning 6-3 in the fifth.

More disappointment has ensued since then, but no defeat has carried the same emotional impact.

Next year will see Henman try to make amends for that reverse again.

Perhaps now is the time to admit that his chance has been and gone.