As thrilling and as dramatic as it became it was also humiliation. Cold, dark, miserable humiliation.

There can be no other word for the way Greg Rusedski exited Wimbledon after four hours of unbearable tension, at the hands of a man with the worst losing record in world tennis.

It may have gone to five sets but Rusedski was unrecognisable from the man renowned as the world's fastest server as he fell 6-3 6-7 6-3 6-7 9-7 to American Vince Spadea, a man going through the tennis equivalent of manic depression.

The British number two's demeanour was as dark and brooding as the clouds which enveloped Wimbledon for most of the first day, ripping two hours from the programme.

But if the result was overtly embarrassing for the 14th seed, his tennis for the most part was even worse.

Rarely can Rusedski have played quite so abjectly on his favourite surface.

The court one crowd did their best but Rusedski simply looked bemused and bewildered at how he could play so wretchedly against such an opponent.

Spadea had lost 22 consecutive top-class matches before yesterday - an ATP Tour record. He had not won a match since last October.

And while he was once in the top 20 and has beaten the likes of Andre Agassi, he has struggled to make any impact since he made alterations to his game to relieve an injured back.

The match could hardly have begun more calamitously for Rusedski.

First he spurned three break points on Spadea's serve in the first game of the match and then came perhaps the worst service game of Rusedski's professional career.

It began well enough with a crashing ace but then Rusedski contrived to serve six double faults.

For a man who willingly concedes his service is his biggest weapon it was a debilitating drain to the confidence.

Thirteen minutes gone, Rusedski 3-0 down and the Wimbledon dream was looking decidedly dodgy.

The first set drifted by in an error-strewn daze and the second began not much better.

He lost his serve again in the third game and in the eighth smashed his racket into the ground in frustration after squandering another three break points.

But then, with Rusedski having hauled himself back to 5-5, came the rain.

It was only drizzle but it allowed him time to shelter from the demons.

He returned more aggressive, more rhythmic on his serve, almost as if the machinery had been oiled.

It helped him win a second set tie-break and the pain looked over.

In truth it was just beginning. The errors returned in the third set, most markedly in the fifth game when at 40-love up Rusedski's fragile mental equilibrium fell apart.

Incredibly he lost his serve and Spadea cruised to take the set.

The fourth went with serve into a dramatic tie-break. Twice Rusedski looked over the precipice of match points.

Twice he clawed his way back, from somewhere finding the resolve to stay in the match.

The mental torment for Spadea was just as palpable so close he could almost touch that elusive victory. But Rusedski finally closed out the tie-break 10-8 and the match entered a tense and fraught final set.

He went down a break of serve in the fourth game when he pushed an easy volley into the net.

It might have been even worse, but in the sixth game Rusedski cashed in on a slice of luck when his net cord dribbled agonisingly over the tape. Spadea's service was broken and Rusedski was back in the set.

He saved another match point in the 10th game and received the benefit of another lucky net cord on a crucial point. It was 5-5.

Then came the 13th game in which Rusedski displayed all his resolve to break Spadea and go ahead in the match for the first time.

It did not last long, Rusedski surrendering his next serve in a desperate fit of nerves and fatigue. It seemed neither player wanted to actually pass the finishing tape.

Until, that is, the 16th game when, at a few minutes past nine o'clock, Rusedski's brittle serve betrayed him one last time.

For Spadea there was just sheer relief a triumph which had spawned the latest pub quiz question.

Who was the man Spadea beat to end the longest losing sequence in world tennis?

Unfortunately for British tennis the answer is Greg Rusedski.