WIMBLEDON

June 25, 2004

Tim Henman

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Tim.

TIM HENMAN: Yes, I did watch it (smiling). I'm sure it was as painful for me as it was for you.

TIM HENMAN: Yes, absolutely. Swiss referees. Swiss opponent today. Had to make sure I got some revenge.

TIM HENMAN: I think, as you guys are sort of aware, for the last six or seven months, I've been so, you know, relaxed and sort of calm, showing know emotion on the court - and that's obviously I think brought about some of my best results in my career. Upon reflection, I think in my first round match here, I very much had the same attitude. But I think, if anything, then I'm not really using the slight sort of intimidation factor of the crowd. And today was the same. I think they very much responded to the way that I'm on court. If they see me walking around very calmly and not really showing any emotion, I think that sort of sets the tone. When I was down 5-3 today, I just felt, you know, this is kind of not the way it used to feel at Wimbledon for me. Then I felt like I needed to be a little bit more animated and show a little bit more emotion. From that point on, I felt like, you know, my performance and the atmosphere out there was very, very different. It's different, when I feel like I've had the most success I've had in my career acting - "acting" is the wrong word - behaving in a certain fashion on the court, and now I'm also going against that. But, you know, I think I've got to use the crowd, and certainly I think, you know, I was more -- a little bit more -- I was moving a little bit better and certainly my level of tennis from 3-5 was so much better.

TIM HENMAN: I think the most important thing is the level of my game. You know, in the first round, I was pretty ordinary. For the first eight games, I wasn't much better. But I think, you know, from that moment on - you know, obviously I won four games in a row to win the set, then only dropped five games in the last two sets - you know, I felt so much better out there. You know, again, it's something that I just need to be aware of. I watched pretty much the whole of my first round match. I felt that I was trying to do a lot of the right things on grass, but I thought it was just predictable. I was serving and volleying all the time. You know, I think when you give someone a constant target, they'll get into a rhythm. I felt like from the baseline, you know, I was playing a lot of what I thought were pretty good slices. Then I look at them on TV and they just sit there. I think an aspect that I've added to my game is the way I can be more aggressive to set up -- be more aggressive from the baseline to set up the rally from the net. Today I tried to do that. When we were at the baseline, I wanted to be offensive and finish the point at the net. Felt like, you know, was beginning to be a lot more successful with that.

TIM HENMAN: I think I just needed to -- you know, I need to be a little bit more sort of physical, you know, need to be sharper myself. You know, the atmosphere I think got better and better as the match went on. But, you know, I think that goes hand-in-hand, doesn't it. When I start playing better, I'm winning more games and more points, it's probably a bit more enjoyable to watch.

TIM HENMAN: I think they appreciate that. They can see the level of tennis. You know, I played a guy ranked - I don't know what the guy was in the first round, 90 or something - I played a qualifier today who's 130, and they're all good. I think I certainly know that. They definitely know that. As I said, that's something you have to be ready for.

TIM HENMAN: Not really, no. I think I was very much sort of letting him play the way he wanted to. I wasn't -- I was putting him under a little bit of pressure. But certainly you drop your serve first game and it gives him a nice, comfortable start. You know, he was playing some good tennis. Serving very well, you know, was hitting his sort of spots pretty well. I needed to reverse that trend and start to be more aggressive, you know, take opportunities - and certainly did that.

TIM HENMAN: What's the latest?

TIM HENMAN: I played him here a few years ago. I actually played him a lot. I must have played him 9, 10, 11 times or something. Overall, I've got a good record. Having said that, I think I've lost the last two. Again, you know, he's a real shot-maker. He's got a lot of ability. You know, it's important that, you know, that I'm the one that dictates and plays the match under my terms. If you just sit back and let him use his repertoire of shots, you're going to have a long afternoon. But, you know, I think if I can keep doing the things that I did towards the end of the match today, then I feel a lot better than I did after my first round.

TIM HENMAN: I don't think I've played him. Could be wrong. But, again, a very different type of player. Right-handed, two-handed backhand. He's the one that likes to have time to hit his shots. You know, likes the ball up high. I don't think he likes the ball low. But as I said, I think it's important that I keep trying to concentrate on the things that I'm doing, the things that have been successful.

TIM HENMAN: I presume so.

TIM HENMAN: It won't be a problem. No, it's fine. I mean, we play -- you know, grass court tennis, the nature of the match that I played today, it's not overly strenuous, I hate to say. So the prospects of coming back and playing best-of-five tomorrow won't be a problem. But, you know, from what I have heard, I don't think the forecast is too clever again.

TIM HENMAN: Yes, I did.

TIM HENMAN: No, I can't blame that. I sort of -- I didn't sleep particularly well, I don't think. I was sort of very much aware, you know, of our disappointment, their disappointment. Yeah, it's such a tough game to lose, and certainly in the circumstances - not only the penalties, but, you know, pretty dubious decision. Obviously, was a bad day for umpires and referees yesterday.

TIM HENMAN: No. But it's nice to get a bit of revenge on the nation - Switzerland, that is (smiling).

TIM HENMAN: I think everyone's a bit disappointed. I think, you know, that's inevitable. You know, that's the way it goes sometimes. It obviously -- you know, things didn't really fall in our favor yesterday evening. You know, that's tough. I'm sure the players are the most disappointed out of that because they're the ones out there competing.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, pile it on, bring it on (smiling). It's twofold, isn't it? You could say that, you know, the support can be even greater, if that's possible. You know, on the other side of the coin, if they were to keep winning, then perhaps, you know, the spotlight to a certain extent would be elsewhere. But I think bottom line is, it's going to be dictated by the way that I play, and that's certainly the thing that I'll be concentrating hardest on.

TIM HENMAN: I'll try my hardest, you know, to get where I'm sure a lot of people would like. But, you know, it's a tough ask. Both events, you know, big events, big tournaments. Pretty much the pinnacle of the sport. So if you're going to be in the finals, you're going to have to play very well. You know, I don't really know a great deal about the football side of things, but it didn't seem to me like they had, you know, a great deal going their way. It is, it's going to be decided by such small margins. It didn't fall for them.

TIM HENMAN: Good.

TIM HENMAN: Perfect (smiling). The courts are what they are. It's up to the players to adapt to them. You know, I was the first to admit I was a bit surprised how, you know, slow it was for my first match. But it's a question of getting on with it. There's no real point to dwelling on it. I felt like you accept the conditions and, you know, absolutely there's more than one way to play on a grass court now. And I felt like the mixture of the way that I was playing the points today was much, much better.

TIM HENMAN: No. I think they're pretty similar.

TIM HENMAN: You were pretty lucky (smiling). Is that honest enough? Yeah, they played well.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, yeah. They could get some better turf, as well, that would be helpful.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah. You know, unbelievably excited about it. It's a huge honor. I've known about it for quite some time. So, yeah, I'm really excited about it. It will be something that you really just don't get the opportunity or the chance to do. And to have that, sort of from Centre Court of Wimbledon, I think it will be amazing 15 minutes, however long it takes, 20 minutes, I don't exactly know where I've got to run to. But I'll be pretty excited.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, it's the pinnacle of sport, isn't it? I've participated in two before. Athens will be my third. I do suffer from wanting to watch a lot of the other sports than sometimes participating in my own. I got a silver medal in Atlanta, be looking forward to Athens.

TIM HENMAN: It's slightly different, isn't it? It hasn't been an Olympic sport for too long. I think '88 was when it first was an official sport. '84 it was a trial sport. Hasn't had, you know, an enormous amount of history as part of the Olympics. But certainly when you're a big sports fan, the Olympics I think is the pinnacle.

TIM HENMAN: No, I don't yet. I'm not sure.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, it would be tough (smiling).