By Frank Malley, PA Chief Sports Writer, Sydney

Tim Henman bared his chest to the burning sun on Monday and then proceeded to give tennis' top stars something of a roasting.

Britain's number one player took the opportunity to top up his tan while practising, before racing off to support Britain's men's hockey players in their 8-1 defeat against Pakistan.

And as Henman revelled in the unique atmosphere of the Olympics, he admitted he could not understand how the top stars could turn down the opportunity to represent their country in the men's tennis tournament.

Olympic champion Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Jan-Michael Gambill all pulled out of the United States team, while Marc Rosset - the Olympic champion in Barcelona - and Andrei Medvedev also gave these Millennium Games a miss because they preferred a holiday.

Thomas Enqvist of Sweden also withdrew last week.

"It's good news. It means there are less to beat," said Henman, who plays his first round match with Slovakia's Karol Kucera on Wednesday.

"But they are the ones missing out. The Olympic Games speak for themselves. It's their loss.

"The Olympics is the pinnacle in any sports career.

"I said after the Opening Ceremony in Atlanta that it was the best thing I had ever been involved with.

"But this one was even better. To go in front of 100,000 people or more was incredible. They are the memories you want to take away."

Henman, who won a silver medal in the doubles with Neil Broad in Atlanta, is staying in the athletes village here and revelling in the opportunity to meet other athletes and help the British cause.

"It's great to be around other athletes," he said.

"You see some serious shapes and sizes like China's 7ft 6ins basketball player.

"Muhammad Ali was in the village yesterday and that was pretty special.

"You might not know all the names of the athletes in your team, but you see the uniform and you know they're one of you.

"It's comforting just to say hello. It spurs everyone on.

"It's always interesting to meet different people from different areas of sport."

Henman also revealed the entire British team had been lifted by the exploits of cyclist Jason Queally, who has already won an individual gold and a team silver this week.

"That was a huge boost," said Henman. "It got us up and running. A lot of the team were watching on TV."

Henman, meanwhile, faces a tricky first-round opponent in Kucera, whose coach Miloslav Mecir was tennis' first Olympic men's champion in Seoul in 1988.

They have faced each other 10 times and have won five each, though if Henman can reproduce the form he has shown since Wimbledon he should have few problems.

"We know each other's games very well, but I have been playing better recently," said Henman, who is in the same half of the draw as number one seed and US Open champion Marat Safin.

They are scheduled to meet in the quarter-final and Henman said: "He's running on fumes at the moment and is going to go out with little to lose.

"He was playing so badly at the beginning of the year and it's incredible how he has changed his game around so quickly."

Greg Rusedski, Britain's number two, also has a tough first-round opponent in Frenchman Arnaud Clement, the man who beat Agassi at the US Open.

He too starts his Olympic challenge on Wednesday with home favourite Lleyton Hewitt looming in his side of the draw.