Britain's sporting dreams have been left in tatters after Tim Henman's defeat in the Wimbledon semifinals, newspapers said Saturday, but insisted the country's top tennis player had not disgraced himself.

"No shame, Tim", was the headline in The Sun, Britain's biggest selling daily tabloid, despite the disappointment of a public who have been waiting 66 years for a British men's champion. The last to lift the Wimbledon title was Fred Perry in 1936.

"After all the cheering, it just wasn't to be", the paper said in an editorial comment.

After the quarterfinal exit of England's soccer squad from the soccer World Cup in Japan and South Korea, Henman had been carrying on his shoulders the weight of Britain's hopes of sporting success.

Those expectations ended after he lost to Australian top seed Lleyton Hewitt 7-5, 6-1, 7-5 on

Friday, his fourth Wimbledon semifinal defeat in the last five years.

"After all the hope and hype, the flags and the banners, Tim Henman and the nation's hopes of a Wimbledon championship drained away on a grey and rainy day," said the Independent.

"He did his best against a player at the top of his game, and need feel no shame." But it added: "Frankly, Henman was outclassed."

"It all ends in tears" was the Daily Express headline. The paper said his defeat was "another crushing disappointment for British sport".

The Express added: "Henman now faces being cast in the role of perennial nearly-man ... at 27, (his) time is running out".

The Guardian said Henman's defeat left him facing the prospect

that he may never realise his childhood dream and win the title he covets the most.

"And so once again England's sporting hopes have been dashed, and once again, the blame lies in the same place," said The Times.

"He came up with the best tennis he has played this Wimbledon. The snag was that he played it against the best player in the world ... Henman did not lose: Hewitt won. It was his day."

Henman "was blown away as if he had been playing against a typhoon", the paper added in a front page article.

"For the fourth time, Henman has reached the Wimbledon semifinals, and that achievement is something that no one in the country dared to dream about before he turned up."

The Daily Mirror said: "Tim Henman's defeat felt just like England's dismissal in the World Cup.

"But Tim's failure should not hide his achievement. He has reached the Wimbledon semis four times ... for a British tennis player, that is something to celebrate.”