By Frank Malley, PA Sport, Sydney

Greg Rusedski was certainly right about one thing when he made his state-of-the-nation outburst this week - you don't get much for your money where British tennis is concerned these days.

A mere 58 minutes to be exact was on offer in the case of Rusedski on Wednesday when he barely raised a bead of sweat in his attempts to match the sorcery of Frenchman Arnaud Clement before going down 6-2 6-3.

Then there was a paltry one hour and 23 minutes from Tim Henman as he slipped to a 6-3 6-2 defeat against Slovakia's Karol Kucera.

The slow Rebound Ace courts of the Olympics may not entirely suit the two Brits' serve-and-volley styles.

But is that really the best that can be done - meek and pitiful first-round exits, by the two most accomplished British tennis players for more than 60 years?

If it is then British tennis is in an even poorer state than Rusedski suggested when he had GB team manager Roger Taylor fuming and LTA chiefs spluttering into their nightcaps 36 hours ago.

Rusedski on Wednesday reiterated his wish when he returns home to sit down with LTA chief executive John Crowther and thrash out a positive way forward for the sport.

He could perhaps start with a three-point memo to himself and Henman.

Do not chip and charge the net blindly, like infantrymen going over the top at the Somme, against consummate baseliners with precision passing shots like Kucera and Clement.

Do not squander service games with debilitating double faults.

Do not give the impression that defeat was, at worst, a convenient vehicle to see a little more of the Olympic experience.

That is the way it appeared at times as Henman turned in a performance which was plucked straight from the compilation of horror shows which have become such a frustrating feature of his career.

The forehand was too often floated long; the volleys lacked precision, and the second serve - which caused his downfall in the third round of the US Open against Richard Krajicek - was back to its erratic worst.

To be fair Kucera displayed the sort of inspired tennis the world once enjoyed from his coach and mentor Miloslav Mecir, the man known as 'The Cat' and who knows all about the Olympic experience having won the singles title on the sport's return to the Games in Seoul in 1988.

Henman, by contrast, played like a dog - and, it has to be said, did not seem too concerned as he looked forward to savouring the unique atmosphere of the Olympics where he now intends to take in as many sports as he can.

He certainly did not wear the demeanour of a man who believed, as he had been professing all week, that the Olympics were the pinnacle of all sports.

"A loss is a loss, and I don't like losing," was Henman's verdict.

"It wasn't my best performance but I don't feel I could have done too much about it. I have to be realistic - Karol was too good for me.

"He kept the pressure on me all the time, and every game I won was a real battle. He didn't give me any cheap points, and that's definitely the best he's ever played against me. There wasn't a chink in his armour I could exploit."

Rusedski's verdict on Clement was much the same.

"He played a smart match and had me guessing all the time," said the Canadian-raised British number two.

"I kept chipping and charging but if I had stayed back I still wouldn't have won the rallies. I came up against a man on fire. He hit four winners in a row and just played better."

Rusedski denied the uproar over his earlier pronouncements had been disruptive, although he admitted he had been surprised at the attention and headlines they had received.

"That's the price of being in the public eye, I guess," he said.

"I know I shouldn't have brought it up here. But everyone makes a mistake once in a while - that's life."

Rusedski now intends staying on to watch the 100m track finals on Saturday and take in a couple of basketball matches.

Henman, whose wife Lucy is here, will be taking in as many events as he can.

"I'll take advantage of a little bit more free time than I would have liked," he said.

"It's disappointing, the outcome of the match - but I'll take the opportunity to watch some more events.

"I'd like to see a bit of everything, but that's probably wishful thinking. It's not easy to get into every event, but I'll see what I can do."

Meanwhile, the Olympic tennis tournament - already without many of its top stars - goes on without top seed Marat Safin.

The Russian, who thrashed Pete Sampras to win the US Open two weeks ago, finally succumbed to tiredness after a whirlwind two months as he went down 6-1 1-6 6-4 against Fabrice Santoro.

He could blame it on too much success. Sadly that is not a weapon in a British tennis player's armoury.