Tim Henman's preparations for next week's Wimbledon were in tatters after he crashed out of the Nottingham Open to Jonas Bjorkman yesterday.

The Oxfordshire star had been handed a wild card for Nottingham to get in as much grass-court practice as he could but, just as at Queen's the previous week, he fell at the first hurdle.

And although he was looser than in his second-round defeat by little-known Bob Bryan at the Stella Artois Championships - having been given a first-round bye - that came as little consolation.

"This is not the ideal preparation for Wimbledon, that's for sure," he said after his 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 defeat by the Swede, "although I did play much better than at Queen's last week. "I lost to the better player, there's no point arguing about that fact on the day."

Henman has reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in each of the last two years but this is his most disappointing build-up for years.

He is now heading back to London to get in more practice on grass, but he knows it's not the same as tournament play.

And the Wimbledon draw, which was made yesterday, hardly did him any favours.

He shouldn't have too much problem getting through his first-round match against Paradom Srichaphan of Thailand. But the remainder of the first week looks like a minefield. He is on course for a meeting with Goran Ivanisevic in the second round and could then come up against Marcelo Rios in the third.

If he survives those two battles, it's then likely to be big-serving Mark Philippoussis in the fourth.

At least he's in a different half of the draw to reigning champion Pete Sampras.

And one other consolation for Henman is that he has not lost to Ivanisevic in any of their four previous meetings, which includes one on grass, at Queen's Club two years ago.

However, the 25-year-old from Weston-on-the-Green is refusing to look even as far as that possible meeting with Ivanisevic.

"I've got to get through the opening match first," he insisted.