ATP MASTERS SERIES- MADRID

October 21, 2004

Tim Henman

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Tim.

TIM HENMAN: From my point of view, I thought it was pretty ordinary all around. I think my movement, first and foremost, was poor, so I never really felt like I was in the right position to hit a lot of shots. And I think that's really highlighted in these conditions because if you don't get a clean hit on the ball, it's flying a lot. I felt coming into the match that he was going to dominate more with his serve. But I felt like I was actually getting a lot of serves back into the court, which I felt was going to be, you know, a big positive for me. But I was so, so erratic and so inconsistent once I got into the rallies that, you know, every game was a struggle.

TIM HENMAN: Well, If I would have made quite a lot, I probably would have won. Yeah, I was miss-hitting the ball, hitting a lot of balls long, hitting them in the net, hitting them all over the place. You know, with my style, the way that I hit my forehand, you know, I hit it pretty flat, and there's not a lot of margin for error. And it is, it's highlighted in these conditions when we're at a little bit of altitude. You know, as I said yesterday, I still felt I struggled to control the ball yesterday. It was even worse today.

TIM HENMAN: No, it's fine. It's fine.

TIM HENMAN: No, it's not an issue. I'd love to look for, you know, excuses about why I played badly. But, you know, the buck stops with me. As I said, I was hitting the ball poorly. I think it's as simple as that.

TIM HENMAN: No. I don't feel particularly good physically, unfortunately, again. I felt -- you know, I felt like I made a good decision to have some time off, and I had some time off. Then, you know, worked really hard at home to sort of give myself good preparation. And then after a couple of days here, I just felt -- in all honesty, I felt very similar as I did at Roland Garros. You know, why that is, I don't know. I think it's probably an accumulation again of my schedule. I had a blood test last night. I'll just see what the results say when they come back. But it's difficult because I think in the best possible way, I take my physical condition for granted because I feel like I've always worked hard in that area and I've always felt in good shape. When you're on the court, you're just struggling for energy, it's not something I'm used to. I think it makes life harder mentally. It's very easy to get frustrated, as it was pretty clear out there.

TIM HENMAN: No. I feel from the waist up, I feel fine. I don't feel ill. But I don't -- I just don't have any energy. You know, you guys know me pretty well. That's never an issue for me. I've always -- you know, I've always had plenty of energy. You know, especially in normal circumstances, playing indoors in this type-- in these types of conditions, it's not physically demanding. But, you know, after four or five games, as the case was in Paris, you know, I feel tired. You know, I competed hard out there. I gave it everything I had. You know, I think if I played a bit better, I probably could have won. But, you know, it wasn't the case, and it just is not the ideal circumstances to be playing.

TIM HENMAN: No, no, no. Absolutely not. My body in that respect is fine, but it's just more of the energy issue.

TIM HENMAN: I didn't do a great deal directly after Davis Cup. But, you know, it's a good opportunity, as I've always done, you know, to make sure that I keep maintaining the work that I've done the last few years, the weights that I've done, the interval work that I've done. I did, I worked hard at the latter stages of the break. I felt pretty good about it. But it's sort of frustrating that then coming into this tournament, I start to suffer again.

TIM HENMAN: No. You know, if I can -- I think I felt worse in Paris than I do now. If I can make the semis of the French there, you know, playing five sets on clay, then playing indoors in Basel where I've got a pretty good record, I certainly don't intend to miss it. You know, if the results came back with something relatively drastic, then that might change my thoughts. But, no, I've just got to try and rest as much as I can and, you know, give myself the best chance of regaining my energies.

TIM HENMAN: Well, it's a bit of a contradiction, isn't it? Because it is quick here. I feel like the conditions should suit me a bit better than they do, more than the way I played here. Where in Basel, it's pretty slow. We use a heavy ball there, which on paper you wouldn't say is ideal, but I think it's a pretty low bounce, which suits me well. It is somewhere I've had a lot of good results. I'll be keeping fingers crossed that history does repeat itself there.

TIM HENMAN: I don't think so. I mean, now with the GSK stuff, I've been able to start using a drink on the court and having a recovery drink off the court, which I feel as confident as you can that I'm not taking any risks. But I think when you're not feeling your best, then in the past you probably would have been able to -- you probably would have taken, you know, more freely a different type of vitamin just to sort of boost your immune system and feel like you can help yourself a little bit more in that front. But pretty much the only thing I've been able to take is vitamin C. How much that helps, I don't know. But I think it is, again, just to make sure that at this moment in time I'll be -- you know, I'll be practicing to make sure I feel comfortable on the surface, but I won't be doing any sort of physical training, just to give myself the best chance of feeling freshest for the matches.

TIM HENMAN: Absolutely. Absolutely, yeah.

TIM HENMAN: That's absolutely the plan. I'm guaranteed two of those weeks tennis-wise. You know, I very much hope that I can have the third event because, you know, that would round off the year very, very nicely. But, you know, there's still lots of tennis to be played. I feel like, again, I've got to try and feel better. If I can play well in my last two events on the tour sort of thing, then I feel I've got every possibility of being in Houston.

TIM HENMAN: I don't know. I haven't really thought of it like that. I just felt that these were -- on paper, they're pretty easy, because there shouldn't be that many long rallies. It physically should be less demanding. But I found because I was timing the ball so badly, miss-hitting a lot of shots, it gets pretty frustrating. I do think indoor tennis is probably the most straightforward. You've got no outside variables. I've won quite a few tournaments in these conditions in the past. I think I've related this back to Roland Garros, and it's easier than having to worry about five sets on clay, that's for sure.

TIM HENMAN: Not that close.

TIM HENMAN: No. No. Two months away or something, yeah.