AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 20, 2004

Tim Henman

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Tim.

TIM HENMAN: Certainly no complaints. I think there's, you know, lots of positives to take away. The first match, as I'm sure everybody has said, is not always the easiest. I've been practicing for the last week in the heat and getting used to sort of lively conditions. It was a little bit of a surprise. We played under the lights. You need to make those adjustments. You know, straight sets, you know, didn't really get into too much trouble on my serve. You know, it was a good start for me.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, I mean, he looked at him, watched him practice a couple of times. I've played him before, so I had, you know, a fairly good idea of what to expect, having played him in Adelaide I think about three years ago. But I think from my point of view, you know, the tone that I set early on was very important. I was very aggressive from the outset, was chipping and charging, not really giving him the rhythm that he needs really to play his game. You know, that kind of tempo was certainly to my advantage. I was able to maintain it for all three sets.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, I think you'd like to break every game, wouldn't you? But I think just committing to that style of play and being aggressive whether I was winning or losing the points, I knew it was the right way to play. And certainly early on, I was able to, you know, put him under a lot of pressure. Even the first game, I could have broken him. You know, as I said, I think when you put a little bit of doubt in their mind early on, they know that second serves, you're going to be coming in behind it, and obviously using my volleying skills, it's going to put extra pressure on them. You know, I've probably been guilty in years gone by of not using it enough. I certainly want to make sure that I keep playing the right way.

TIM HENMAN: I think it was the eighth game of the second set where, you know, I did get slightly distracted. But having said that, you know, it was a great atmosphere to have, you know, pretty much a full stadium. It felt like a lot of support for me. It was certainly a lot of fun out there. I think when you talk in terms of distractions, you compare it to US Open or something, this was fairly Wimbledon-like. No, it was great. As I said, I think there's a lot of positives to take away. You know, hardly any negatives at all.

TIM HENMAN: First for me at a tennis match.

TIM HENMAN: I hope so, yeah. We haven't been able to talk -- I haven't been able to talk too much about the rugby yet. It's another nice reminder.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, absolutely. I'm sure they're looking for nice, you know, hot, sunny days. But they're obviously keeping themselves warm tonight.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah. It's Stepanek.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah. I ended up winning that match. You know, I played pretty well. I can't say I remember so much about it because I was probably concentrating so much on my shoulder. I think I won in straight sets. But, you know, he's a dangerous player. I think he's got a pretty good serve, plays with a lot of feel. Good volleys, as well. Paul watched I think quite a lot of that match today. So it will be interesting to hear what he's got to say. But I think, as I've said quite a lot in the past, you know, I think it is so important that, you know, I'm committed to my style and committed to the way I want to play. A, I think if I do that, I've got a good chance of that. And, B, if I play the right way, he's too good for me on the day, then all credit to him. I want to spend more time concentrating on my own game than worrying about, you know, my opponent's.

TIM HENMAN: Not really, no. Although he was kind of away from the game for a period of time when Pete wasn't quite decided on what he was going to do, it's still pretty much the same group of players. There's a few younger ones that probably neither of us would know. But, no, I think just his -- kind of the way, the vision he has of seeing me play, is perhaps slightly different. I think that's where, you know, he can be a big benefit for me.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, it's just that whole feel-good factor. I think having been at home, you know, during the tournament and when they got back, obviously it had a massive impact. It does give everyone a lift. You know, I think when you look -- having followed rugby pretty closely, I can see how they, you know, structured the last four to six years, if you like. And there's been a very clear plan for them. You know, it paid off. I think a lot of sports should take notice of that. But certainly it's an unusual feeling to come down to Australia having, you know, beaten them at a major sport, because it doesn't happen too often.

TIM HENMAN: Absolutely, yeah. I have prospered, but not really here. You know, Sydney's probably one of the strongest tournaments of the year. The cutoff is always sort of 35 or 40. I've won that. I've been in the final there. I've won Adelaide. You know, there's no doubt that it's a good surface for me. That adds to the frustration, the challenge, the motivation to do better here. That's certainly what I'm trying to do.

TIM HENMAN: No, far from it. You know, it's a challenge every day, whether it's the practice court or the match court. And, you know, there's certain things, certain aspects of my serving, aspects of the way I return, that I've been working hard on, that were good tonight. But there still are other areas that definitely can be improved. It is, it's about making it a habit, whether it's committing to a first serve or a second serve or, you know, hitting a second serve return. You know, it's about being committed to that individual shot. It's not on a game-by-game basis. It taking it every time you step on the court. It's not doing it, you know, for a couple of games here or there, then resorting to hitting, running on the baseline. You know, I've got to try to do it so that it becomes second nature. That is easier said than done. But I think I'm moving slowly in the right direction.

TIM HENMAN: It's just a challenge, isn't it? There is an element of kind of taking yourself out of a comfort zone - that's not quite the right way to describe it. But, you know, it's probably a habit. There's probably good habits to my game; there's probably bad habits, as well. It's about, you know, trying to break out of those. I think, you know, the commitment that I want to have and the strategy that I play is the most important thing. You know, as I spoke to you guys earlier, there's certainly good misses and bad misses. And I think when you stand up to the line, you make a decision, you commit to that decision, you miss the shot, then I don't think you can have complaints. It's just human nature that we're going to make a few mistakes, unfortunately. You know, I think I've been guilty in the past of probably second-guessing myself a little bit and then not committing to a decision. You know, that's the aspect I'm working on at the moment.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, to come through that game was good. But I would say they were bad double-faults. I didn't really stand -- I think I got a bit distracted by the guy who was up in the stands. Then when it came back to making the decision of where I was going to serve, I didn't really have a plan. I stepped up to the line, served a double-fault, and thought, "That was pretty ordinary." And then I dug myself out of it. It would have been much better if I stepped up to the line and said, "Doesn't matter what he's doing. This is where I'm going to serve." Gone for a big second serve and missed it. I would have said, "Fine." I knew what I was trying to do, there was a plan, I was committed to that. I would say those two, that was the only ordinary game I played on my serve, because I didn't really have a plan. Every other time I served, it's, "This is where I'm going to go, serve and volley here, stay back." Hence, you know, very rarely did I get into trouble on my serve.

TIM HENMAN: I suppose it was probably something to do with television.

TIM HENMAN: No. It's, again, some of these things are out of my control. I was definitely a bit surprised because I think in years gone by, a lot of tournaments around the world, I seem to end up playing first. But, no, it was -- I think the slight disappointment was that it was going to be a hot day today, and I felt like that would have, you know, suited me pretty well with the conditions. Having said that, it was cooler tonight, but the wind had dropped a lot. When I practiced middle of the day, it was pretty tough out there.