AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 18, 2005

Tim Henman

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Tim, please.

TIM HENMAN: I'd like to think that he was the one that made a difference because I felt like it was a pretty fine line for me. I played two sets of pretty much faultless tennis. You know, I was being very aggressive, but very consistent, very few unforced errors, I was serving well. I just felt like I wanted to try and maintain that level, which I think I did. But, if anything, I perhaps needed to be a little bit more aggressive to continue to take the match to him. I didn't really make unforced errors, which was a good thing. But I felt like I let him play his game a little bit. You know, just played one good game to break my serve at the end. I think a critical point was beginning of the fourth, where I then played three very aggressive games to try and take the initiative a little bit. Up 3-Love, I think I was just talking to Paul, and he sort of said there wasn't a sense of inevitability when I was up 3-Love. It was almost like I was saying to myself, which is right, "I've got the double break, I must now take advantage of that." Instead of just saying, "I'm playing great tennis. I played three great games, let's keep it going." Then it got a little bit tricky. But, you know, I was glad to finish it off with two solid games at the end.

TIM HENMAN: What? Are you implying that's a lot.

TIM HENMAN: No, I don't think so. No. What's that, four sets, that's nine a set. Not that bad, is it (smiling)? I thought it was some really great tennis. A lot of points were finishing on winners. You know, if I was him, I'd be pretty disappointed to lose the second set 6-2 because he was -- I still felt like he was playing well. You know, the third set was perhaps not quite as clear-cut from both of us. But, again, it's not always going to be that you're going to play that flawless type of tennis that I did in the first two. But, you know, it was certainly a good start for me.

TIM HENMAN: No.

TIM HENMAN: I did at the beginning. I gave them a wave, yeah. You can't have been watching that closely. It was a rare wave (smiling).

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, I mean, I saw at 7 -- I think I'd just gone out to sort of run and warm up and things, not hit balls but stretch, and I flicked it over, I thought I'm not sure if I got the right court, but I was wondering if there was going to be people out, or to what extent there were going to be people out there. And as we were walking in, Cyril and I were just walking from the locker room, he kind of opened the door to go on, we were met by a sort of wall of chanting of my surname. He was in front of me, so I sort of had a bit of a wry smile, as if to say, "I wonder if he was expecting this." And then we came on court, and the atmosphere was absolutely phenomenal. It's an amazing atmosphere. And, you know, I do, I absolutely love that type of environment to play in. But I think, you know, it's a fine line. I've got a job to do out there. I'm going to use it to my advantage, but I'm not going to get, you know, distracted. You know, there's guys shouting, "Do it for Chiswick." I don't live in Chiswick. There's plenty of times where you'd like to say, "Do it for the Queen." You're like, "No, I'm just trying to win it for myself." But you feel like you've got a job to do.

TIM HENMAN: Wallingford.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, I think one of the things I did very, very well was the way that I was hitting my backhand. But a lot of the time I just turned defense into attack. I don't want to be always on the defense, but I think the way I dictated from the back of the court to set up opportunities was very good. But I think in an environment like that, when it's a little bit cooler, I like to get a little bit more penetration on first and second serves. Again, I try and -- I know that there's a tendency to try and force it instead of just maintaining your rhythm. But, no, just, you know, an awareness of what I'm trying to do. I think I'm doing that much better. He's a difficult opponent. I think -- I don't know what his ranking is or where he finished last year, but I think he's a really -- I think he's a very good player. I think he should be better or higher than he is.

TIM HENMAN: Same as everybody. I think most people say they're very, very different. But it is, for me, there isn't really a better way to start the year than coming down to this sort of climate, and when you've got that type of atmosphere to play in. I think it's the most -- it's the easiest Grand Slam in terms of the accessibility, you know, the hotels, the city is so close, the transportation is excellent, practice, there's always plenty of practice courts. So I think it's very, very enjoyable. It's really well-supported by the fans.

TIM HENMAN: No.

TIM HENMAN: Not really. I've seen him play a little bit here and there just sort of watching on TV at tournaments. But Paul watched the first two sets. Yeah, I'll need to sort of be clear in my mind of the way I want to play. You know, it's always a little bit tricky if you're not quite clear in your mind of how someone plays. But, again, I think it just goes back to the point that I need to concentrate on what I'm doing.

TIM HENMAN: There's plenty of dialogues that can go on in your head when you're playing. But, again, it's being clear in your mind what you want to do and obviously making the right choices. But, again, I think the 3-Love and the 4-1 games, I think the tendency for me in just those couple of minutes is I was making probably the right decisions, but I was just trying too hard. It's sort of like, you know, you're two sets to one, you're 4-1, double break. You know, you don't want to take anything for granted, don't get me wrong. But, you know, here we go, big serve into the body and let's hit a first volley and see what happens there. You know, slider out wide, then hit the next one. And sometimes it's like, "Well, you know, I want this one over there, and I want to get that shot over to the other side." And sometimes you just have to be able to, you know, let it go sometimes. And I don't find that particularly easy. But I'd like to think I'm getting better at it.

TIM HENMAN: I think, you know, I can relate to those feelings when I've been trying too hard, and then I get, you know, too cautious with my shots. I get stuck on the baseline, I'm chipping my backhand. That's, again, something I need to be aware of. But I think I do that a lot better, and I think that's where Paul's had a big impact. But it's difficult when you get, you know, later on into tournaments. There's an idea that the matches are going to get more and more important. If anything, you've got to have the opposite attitude and just say, this is the fun bit. I've created the chance to play in the big matches, let's let it go and see what happens.

TIM HENMAN: No, I wasn't actually. You noticed?

TIM HENMAN: I wouldn't make too much of it really. You know, I think there's plenty of times in football or something where people run on the pitch. I don't think you should make a big deal of it. I hope you wouldn't, because I don't think it's relevant to this tournament.

TIM HENMAN: No. I think the opposite really. Again, sort of as my attitude I think has changed, and that was part of the reason why I was successful last year, was because I was, you know, a little bit more relaxed and able to, you know, play a little bit more freely for whatever reason. That's something that I want to, you know, not only recreate, but keep improving. Because when I've had that attitude on the court where I'm just out there having fun and not putting extra pressure on myself, not trying too hard, that's when I'm going to, you know, play the right type of game. When you do that, then you win more, it's even more fun.

TIM HENMAN: You know, the other ones were all the odd one out until last year. I'd like to think this is a good opportunity to try and continue the sort of upward trend. You know, I've played well on Rebound Ace. I don't think it's satisfactory for my best to be the 16s. You know, I look at those matches I lost. You know, I certainly had a good opportunity against Woodruff. Lost to Rafter in a terrible match. I can't remember who else I lost to.

TIM HENMAN: Bjorkman. That was sensational (smiling).

TIM HENMAN: Serving milk floats. Just on my press release for the Davis Cup. As events unfolded, it obviously wasn't the best of timing for you guys. There is an apology from that. On my side of the coin, there were three people that I wanted to make sure I'd taken into consideration: Jeremy being the first, Greg being the second, and John Crowther being the third . Once John had been spoken to at about I think 10 in the morning, and by the time I'd organized my statement and got everything sorted, it was sort of midnight, half past 12. For those of you that were woken up at 1:00 in the morning, I apologize. But c'est la vie, unfortunately.