WIMBLEDON

June 27, 2001

Tim Henman

MODERATOR: First question to Tim, please.

TIM HENMAN: In all honesty, it's not the easiest of matches. You know, it's a little bit awkward. Martin obviously has a hell of a lot to gain, in some ways I've got a lot to lose. I think having practised with him on Davis Cup and seeing for myself the type of tennis that he can play, it really made me aware that I had to put in a good performance. I think that showed in how aggressive and how consistent I was at the early part in each set to really try and stamp my authority, to give him as little opportunity to get involved in the match. Yeah, it was a good win. It was a good one to get out of the way.

TIM HENMAN: Not really. I don't think they were sort of favouring either way. I think they were sort of trying to get involved in the match. I felt early on it was a little bit subdued. But then, you know, I think as we both got involved in the match, I think they got involved in the match. Always, whenever you're on Centre Court, there's a lot of people in there, for me it's the best place to play.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, it's something I suppose I get asked pretty consistently. In all honesty, I feel like I've learned how to deal with it because it's been there since '96 when I first had some better results. It's important that you try and use the support that they always give me, and also you're aware that when you go out on the court, you've got to just concentrate on your own performance. You've got to play for yourself, you've got to try to win for yourself. If you then focus too much on the expectations and the sort of desire from everybody else, that would affect your performance. I think you would really struggle. So it's something that I've adjusted to. And I think I deal with it pretty well.

TIM HENMAN: I certainly think with the way he's played recently, he certainly has -- out of that group, I think he's definitely got something a little bit extra. You know, he's really not a conventional lefty-type player, but he's got a lot of positive aspects. I think, you know, mentally he's a guy with some character. I'd really like to see - I'd hope to see - after this grass court season, you know, he can make that next step because he's knocking on the door.

TIM HENMAN: You have to ask him that. It's always a good experience for me when I go out on the court. I've had a lot of great experiences. Hopefully he enjoyed it even though he lost. But he should want to try and have more of it, give himself the opportunity to get out there and play, and win on the court.

TIM HENMAN: It's a friend of ours who is starting up a -- I better get it right. It's an organic sandwich bar that they're going to open up. I don't know if it's opened yet. But she's obviously trying to do her bit to make it work.

TIM HENMAN: No, I don't think it's open yet. Perhaps when it is, then I'll be bringing out lunch boxes, sandwiches on the court, give them a bit of a plug.

TIM HENMAN: He's got a very good serve. As I said, he's slightly unorthodox. He serves to sort of my forehand a lot of the time. He hits that serve well. I think he's got good returns. I think he's very aggressive off the backhand. I think sometimes his forehand, he can hook it a little bit. But he's certainly got a lot to work with. You know, we say it time and time again, that British players get to a certain level, and they don't take that next step. You know, I really do think that he's got an opportunity to bridge that gap.

TIM HENMAN: Well, I think on grass he, you know, can work on his volleys. But having said that, the way grass court tennis is, with the balls and the grass itself, it's certainly, you know, bouncing a lot higher. It's probably playing a little bit slower. It's not a necessity to move forward all the time. But I think he can improve those areas. If he does that, then there's no reason why he can't improve his ranking, get into the Top 100.

TIM HENMAN: It's nice to know that he's available. He's probably a bit busy, as well, at this time. But, no, I've sort of made it pretty clear that I feel like I'm doing okay at the moment, working things out for myself. Having said that, after Wimbledon, I think that is the time to start making inquiries again. You know, whether he wants to travel for 25, 30 weeks a year on the tour, I don't know. You'd have to ask him that yourself.

TIM HENMAN: I decided it was a time for a change. I worked really successfully with David Felgate, who is the only coach I worked with as a professional. But we both felt that, you know, we'd had a lot of success, but it was time for a change. I think it's been a positive for me to work out aspects for myself, work out the game plan, work out different techniques to do with my game. I'm enjoying that right now.

TIM HENMAN: I'm not even going to go there. Discuss that afterwards.

TIM HENMAN: Not a great deal. I don't think it would probably be wise to pay a great deal of attention to it. In all honesty, what can I do about it? It's great that I think tennis gets the coverage that it does, because it helps increase the profile of the game, and hopefully it will get more youngsters and more people in general playing. But from my point of view, it's probably a little bit of a distraction that you just want to avoid because I want to just concentrate on what's happening on the court.

TIM HENMAN: Not really, no. You hear. You hear about it. There will be other people that read about them, so you'll hear about it in the locker room if something strange, something funny has been written. But, again, as I said, you just want to concentrate on what's happening on the court.

TIM HENMAN: Well, I'll certainly go into the match with confidence. I played very, very well against him in Paris, to beat him in straight sets. Again, he's not someone to take lightly. He has played consistently well on grass over the years. He had a tough match against Philippoussis. He came up a little bit short. But he has the game to make life difficult for me. I know that I have to play equally as well as I did today to progress further.

TIM HENMAN: Not quite. He was just checking on the protocol, whether we had to bow or not on our way off.

TIM HENMAN: Good question (laughter). Fortunately, to the Royal Box. No, I think he was keen not to make a mistake in that area on his first visit.

TIM HENMAN: I feel I've sort of stressed in the past that some of my early performances I think have cost me in the latter stages. Because I've certainly come through some difficult matches and played some tough five-set games that take a lot out of you both mentally and physically. It's another positive for me that I've come through in six straight sets. I feel very happy with the way my game is. It's a day-by-day thing. You have to keep producing the goods when the match days come around.

TIM HENMAN: In all honesty, again, it's a little bit of a selfish approach. You just concentrate so much on what you're trying to do with your own game. You don't pay a great deal of attention to what else is happening. Having said that, you're always aware of the other British guys. You want them to do well. In all honesty, it's still an area that we're struggling with. We still need to improve that, to bridge that gap between the two of us at the top of the game and that next group coming through.

TIM HENMAN: It's irrelevant of your surface, isn't it? It's about their ranking because they can't gain that experience to play the top players unless they get into the biggest tournaments. If you're ranked 130, 150, 190, you're at the level down. That's really the challenger circuit. If you're going to play some qualifying for the big events, you've obviously got to get through to that to then give yourself that chance. All at different times. Martin, I don't know exactly what his ranking is. Parmar has been at the same stage. Delgado has got close to 130. I think right now Martin has a chance to make that step.

TIM HENMAN: Again, he's got -- I'm sure he's going to get a big court. He's got to go out there and enjoy the occasion. He's got nothing to lose, an enormous amount to gain. You know, he's dangerous on grass. Arvind has had some good wins. If he's physically ready tomorrow, you know, you certainly say Kafelnikov is the favourite. Arvind has an outside chance.