Andy Murray called on his fellow Britons to learn to love the pressure after he was left flying the flag alone following the first round of Wimbledon.
Murray's victory over Jan Hajek was the only success in eight singles matches involving British players over the first two days, to leave Great Britain with its lowest representation in the second round of a Wimbledon tournament.
The only other British man in the singles event, Jamie Baker, lost in straight sets to Germany's Andreas Beck, but it was the women's tournament that offered the biggest disappointments.
Anne Keothavong joined British No.1 Elena Baltacha in throwing away a commanding position when she lost the last six games of a deciding set against Anastasia Rodionova after leading 4-0.
Keothavong later echoed the comments of Baltacha, who admitted nerves had got to her as she served for the match against grass-court debutant Petra Martic on Monday.
And Murray, who 12 months ago described Britain's Wimbledon display as 'unacceptable', feels success will only come when players relish the pressure of a home crowd.
"It's not great, is it?" Murray said. "A few of the girls had a chance to win and didn't quite take them."
The 23-year-old added: "It's something that I've always enjoyed - playing in the big tournaments - because that was why I always played tennis."
"Obviously you want to enjoy it, but surely when you start playing a sport, you want to compete in the biggest events against the best players?"
"When you get there, there's definitely a pressure that comes with it, but something you should be able to enjoy as well."
"If there's extra pressure, I don't think it affects the way that I play."
"You've just got to get your head round it and deal with the pressure."
Katie O'Brien and Melanie South also lost, while teenagers Laura Robson and Heather Watson at least offered hope for the future despite joining them on the way home.
British No.3 Keothavong admitted 'nerves just got the better of me' during her defeat but added: "I don't think British players have a temperament problem at all. There's so much pressure on all of us here."
Watson, 18, the last of the British women to crash out when she suffered a three-set defeat to Italian qualifier Romina Sarina Oprandi, saw positives in some of the losses.
She said: "I think we're all a little upset that we've lost but there have been so many close ones, third sets, just a bit behind but we're definitely improving and all trying to get better."
The performances put the spotlight on the Lawn Tennis Association's governance of the sport.
But LTA player director Steven Martens cautioned against reading too much into the one tournament, regardless of its status.
"It's not easy to put it in a positive light if you look at the results," Martens said.
"But if you look at women's tennis, it's no reflection on the progress."
"We have seen a lot of the players continuously getting better - we have seen that in the rankings, we see that in the way they have played in different grand slams over the last two years."
Martens pointed out that Keothavong and Baltacha, who lost to Sam Stosur in the last eight at Eastbourne earlier this month, had both reached the third round of grand slams and denied their collapses were evidence of a more widespread temperament