Tim Henman brought Wimbledon to life by coming back from the dead last night.

The British No 1 was heading for a first-round exit at SW19 for the first time since he made his debut at The Championships in 1995 when he trailed Finland's Jarkko Nieminen by two sets to love.

But, after playing as inconsistently as he has ever done on Centre Court, 30-year-old Henman pulled himself together in dramatic fashion.

Digging deep and at last changing his tactics, the Oxfordshire ace rediscovered his form to record a gutsy 3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 win.

It was the first time he had ever fought back from two sets down at Wimbledon - although he has twice done it in the French Open - but he admitted afterwards he was "ordinary at best" in the first half of the match.

"It was touch and go for a long time," he said.

"I was really struggling with all aspects of my game. I was flat with my attitude and my body language on the court. I think the crowd could see that, as well.

"But slowly and surely I started to play better. I started to serve very, very consistently. I found a way to get through it.

"I'm proud of the way I came back."

Henman now faces Russia's Dmitry Tursonov in the second round tomorrow.

For two hours yesterday he looked a shadow of the player who has reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon on four previous occasions.

There was no bite to his game, his shot selection was poor and, although the left-handed Nieminen was playing well, the number of unforced errors from Henman was woeful.

He had made 42 after three sets - compared to just ten in the whole match from the highly impressive Andy Murray against George Bastl on Court No 2 earlier in the day.

Henman, looking to reach the second week at Wimbledon for the tenth year in succession, has a remarkable record, but he appeared to fear the embarrassment of a possible early exit this time.

From the moment he slipped 15-30 down in the opening game, he was nervous, and became increasingly frustrated by his own mistakes.

But he didn't help himself by trying to win points too quickly and by too often playing to Nieminen's powerful forehand.

The Finn passed at will in the opening stages as he took the first set in some comfort.

Henman recovered to go a break up in the second, but another catalogue of errors helped Nieminen turn it around and resume control to take the tie-break 7-5.

Knowing he now had to go for broke, and with the crowd urging encouragement, Henman started hitting through the ball better and found his range more consistently. The comeback had begun.

The adrenalin and confidence flowed at last, and after putting British tennis fans through the wringer again for 3 hours 31 minutes, Tiger Tim sealed a gutsy victory on his third match point.