TMS MONTE CARLO

April 23, 2004

Tim Henman

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, I think in all honesty the sort of 16 previous sets over the last four days kind of caught up with me. Certainly, my serving was probably affected by a little bit of soreness in my shoulder. I think that's nothing to be too concerned about. I think it's just basic fatigue. I, you know, didn't practice so much coming in on the clay, and when you suddenly take on the workload that I have, it's going to catch up with you. That's not going to detract from the way I feel about the week, because I think it's been, you know, singles point of view, it's been very, very positive. And, again, I think, you know, taking my style of game on to the clay and playing in the manner that I have, it's been really good.

TIM HENMAN: No, exactly, yeah. I see my shoulder's definitely been a little bit sore. You know, if I felt I was gonna risk something, I wouldn't play doubles tomorrow. But I don't envision that being the case. So, yeah, I'd like to try and win the doubles here again.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah.

TIM HENMAN: Not really a "twinge." I wouldn't say I sort of injured it. It's just the...

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, it's the excessive use. I think when you -- again, players talk about it a lot, when you're changing the balls as often as we do, the type of ball, and we've come to this one being sort of the heaviest and the hardest one that we use, there are a lot of guys that struggle with it. You know, I take extra good care of my shoulder because I know it could be susceptible. But I wouldn't say I'm overly concerned about it, but I'll monitor how it feels in the next 24 to 48 hours. But, no, from a singles point of view, it was a tough day today. I needed to be playing right at the top of my game to beat Rainer, and I wasn't able to do that.

TIM HENMAN: Not regrets. I mean, it's just one of those things that I think, in all honesty, probably did work against me. But you can't always predict the way things are going to turn out. It can be very beneficial, but I think just for this, you know, this workload over the last four days, it probably, you know, wasn't ideal for my singles.

TIM HENMAN: I won't repeat it in Rome or Hamburg, but that's not to say other times I wouldn't think about playing if I hadn't played for a number of weeks. Then it's always, in an ideal world, it's quite good just to perhaps get a doubles in. But, you know, I think it puts it in perspective when I get asked the question about playing doubles at Wimbledon. I think this just emphasizes the point firsthand, that it's something that is not realistic and just, you know, doesn't interest me.

TIM HENMAN: If I felt that I was jeopardizing my career, then absolutely. But, you know, I wouldn't say I made a mistake playing against Thailand in the Davis Cup. But would I do it again? No, I wouldn't. I think that's where you take it on a day-to-day basis. My shoulder is definitely a little bit sore. But, you know, having spoken to, you know, the physios -- and if suddenly I was, you know, lost strength, then it would be something to worry about. But I still, you know -- it's still strong, but it's just fatigued. I think that's inevitable.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, he's beaten me on pretty much any surface before. So on clay, he's been playing really, really well this week. You look at the people he's beaten, and all credit to him, he's had a rough start to the year, but he's the type of guy that doesn't, you know, doesn't seem to let it affect him. He just keeps working very hard and doing the things that worked for him last year. And, you know, certainly he's turned it around this week.

TIM HENMAN: No, again, you look at the way he returns, and you look at the way the other guys that I've played against return. He's a guy that his first step, as I'm throwing the ball up, is forward. He's taking the ball early. And, obviously, that gives me a lot less time to get into the net. Whereas you look at a Sanchez or a Massu, they stand probably four feet behind the baseline, and a lot of times their first step is backwards. That's always going to be a tougher type of person to serve against. Then back that up with his speed and his consistency, it's always going to be a tough match.

TIM HENMAN: No.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, it wasn't so much fun today, definitely not (smiling). But I think that's dictated a little bit by my opponent and the way I felt on the court, you know. I wanted to go out there and try, but I knew it was probably going to be a tough task today. But as I said, that's not going to detract from the way that I've played this week, because, you know, it's been a bonus after the way that, you know, I felt like I was hitting the ball over the weekend and the struggles I had in the first round against Spadea. I can take a lot of positives away.

TIM HENMAN: It's a lot more uneven here.

TIM HENMAN: What happens when I play in Dubai? In Dubai, it's a great tournament, it's hard court, I cannot win there. I lost first round five times there. I go there early, I practice, I work hard, and I lose every time... That's the way it goes sometimes. In Doha, it's another great tournament, it's a similar part of the world. I've been in the semifinals twice, finals twice. It just sometimes happens.

TIM HENMAN: Sometimes these places, you get confidence from one place and not so much confidence from another. But, you know, the court's the same size. The ball is, you know, still round. And some places, you play good; some, you don't.

TIM HENMAN: Not always, not always (laughter).

TIM HENMAN: Wimbledon's probably the greatest place for me, because I've played some of my best tennis there. The whole surroundings are pretty favorable.

TIM HENMAN: I played okay in Rome, you know. I've made third round a couple of times and, you know, played couple of tough night matches in the third round there. I wouldn't say my performance has necessarily been anything to complain about. But I think coming into the tournament this year, if I'm healthy, then I'm a better player than I've ever been coming into that tournament. So I'd like to try and play as well as I've done here, also in Rome.