Tim Henman enters the year's first Grand Slam event with high hopes. Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson looks at his chances in Australia.

ANOTHER year, another last chance for Tim Henman. The date might change but, with the first Grand Slam of 2005 just around the corner, the weight of expectation heaped upon the British number one stays the same.

Last year saw Henman reach the semi-finals of both the French and US Opens as he improved his world ranking to six.

But as he failed to make the final on either occasion, and also dropped out of Wimbledon at the quarter-final stage, his harsher critics viewed 2004 as yet another opportunity lost.

With Henman now on the wrong side of 30, the perceived wisdom is that there won't be too many more of those chances left.

Modern tennis places such a high premium on pace and power that players are routinely written off once they reach their late 20s.

Yet, over the last 12 months, Henman has turned convention on its head by discovering a confidence and consistency that had regularly eluded him in his youth.

Coach Paul Annacone must take some of the credit - Henman's serve is now as powerful and reliable as it has ever been - but age and experience have gradually smoothed some of the rougher edges of a game that sporadically imploded in the past.

Fatherhood has taught Henman that there is more to life than tennis - his second child Olivia was born in the middle of last month - and, rather than being fearful of losing, the inherently shy 30-year-old is now prepared to throw caution to the wind in pursuit of success.

"Obviously I'm not getting any younger," said Henman, after practising on the show courts at Melbourne Park. "But I still love competing and testing myself against the best in the world.

"The challenge for me is to try and build on what I achieved last year in order to be able to compete with the best.

"Since I started working with Paul, I've had a much clearer picture in my mind of how I want to try and play the game.

"There were occasions last year when I managed to do that well and the results pretty much took care of themselves, but there were other times when I was a lot more reactive and my results suffered, particularly towards the end of the year.

"In 2005, one of my goals is to try to stick to my gameplan of playing aggressively for as much of the time as possible irrespective of who I play, as that's when I think I'm at my most effective."

If Henman is to break his grand slam duck over the next fortnight, he is going to have to do it in a tournament which has never been kind to him in the past.

He has never made it past the fourth round at Melbourne but, with the rubberised compound courts expected to be faster than ever this year, Henman's attacking style should stand him in good stead.

The problem is that half a dozen other players will start this week in equally fine fettle.

After winning three of the four Grand Slams last year, Swiss sensation Roger Federer is a justifiably short-priced favourite as he attempts to defend the title he won so convincingly last year.

Federer started 2005 in the same way he finished 2004, with his 6-3 6-1 win over Ivan Ljubicic in the final of the Qatar Open earning his 21st consecutive Tour victory.

"Roger was head and shoulders above the rest of us last year," admitted Henman. "It's going to be interesting to see if he can continue his dominance."

Federer thinks he can - "it's going to need a good player to beat me" - and, on current form, it is difficult to see anyone upsetting the odds.

Marat Safin ended 2004 on a roll, Andy Roddick has switched coaches in an attempt to rediscover his form from 2003, while Lleyton Hewitt will be in bullish mood with a home crowd behind him.

Swede Joachim Johansson should be a lively outsider but, ultimately, Federer's greatest threat could come from his own sense of superiority.

While the men's game is dominated by one super-power, the women's game is currently in a state of flux.

Four Grand Slams brought four different winners last year with a marked power-shift from West to East.

A Russian Revolution overthrew the dominant Williams dynasty, with Anastasia Myskina, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova all claiming Grand Slam titles while Venus and Serena slipped from view.

With Venus pursuing a career in interior design and Serena hoping to break into films, tennis has become a low priority for the Williams sisters.

Their twin crowns were expected to pass to Belgium but, after Justine Henin-Hardenne beat compatriot Kim Clijsters in last year's Australian Open final, a succession of injuries plagued both players.

Neither will be on court this week and, with two-time champion Jennifer Capriati also having pulled out of the tournament with a shoulder problem, it would be no surprise to see another new name added to the roll of Grand Slam champions.