PACIFIC LIFE OPEN

March 15, 2004

Tim Henman

THE MODERATOR: Tim advances into the Round of 16 where he'll take on the winner of Bjorkman-Arthurs. Questions for Tim.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, it was certainly nice and warm out there. I'm certainly happy to win. I think, you know, it's a long time since I've played Alex. I was excited about the match. I think in all honesty there were, you know, aspects of my game that I could have done a little bit better. But, as you say, when you win in straight sets, I think it's important to really focus on the positive aspects. You know, I was competing pretty well. When I was at the net, my volleying was pretty solid. I just think that middle part of the second set was when perhaps I, you know, gave him a little bit too much rhythm. I didn't get forward as much as I'd like. That's when he was looking dangerous, because he had time to set up on his groundstrokes, and he was the one that was dictating the play. Then in the last couple of games, when actually the initiative swung again, I was the one moving forward and giving him less time. That's when I'm putting more pressure on him. Yeah, I was pleased to finish it off with, you know, a good last service game.

TIM HENMAN: I don't know necessarily how he felt. But, no, again, it's the dry heat, isn't it? It's much more favorable. Throw a bit of humidity in there, I think we all start to struggle a bit. No, the weather's been amazing. It's been the best I've had during this tournament. Long may it continue.

TIM HENMAN: In all honesty, it shouldn't be. But today I should say the middle part of the second set, my concentration wasn't quite as good as it could have been. And that's when, you know, instead of being a little bit clearer in your mind the way you want to play, perhaps you make not the wrong decisions, but perhaps you lose that hundred percent commitment to the style of play that I want to be playing. You know, that was when -- that was probably the time when he was most dominant in the match, when I wasn't really getting forward and taking the ball as early as I would have liked. If you look at his previous matches, I didn't see so much of the match against Ferrer, but certainly against Robredo, you give him time, he's still a very good player. I think if I rush him and take that time away, you know, he struggles with that. That middle part, perhaps it wasn't quite as emphatic as it could have been.

TIM HENMAN: A little bit. Did I get that point across?

TIM HENMAN: It's certainly not quick by any stretch of the imagination. But I think if I play my game, I can almost make the conditions a little bit quicker than they are because it's a matter of taking the ball early, taking the time away from my opponents. And the ball's certainly traveling through the air. But you give some of these guys that hit with heavy topspin, you give them the opportunity to play with a lot of spin, the balls are fluffing up a lot. The courts are fairly abrasive. I think it's on the slow side, but I still don't think that that should detract from the way that I can play.

TIM HENMAN: I don't think it's changed a great deal. It's always quite difficult, unless there's a drastic change when you come back 12 months later. I don't know whether, it being so hot, whether it's making the balls bounce a little bit higher, and therefore people are playing, you know, with a little bit more spin, and therefore the balls get a bit fluffier. But I don't think the conditions have changed too much. And again, I feel good with the position I'm in. I don't think I played my best today, but I'm hoping I play better on Wednesday.

TIM HENMAN: No, I feel a hundred percent. I think that should be the case, given the nature of my matches. I think in all honesty, you know, if we were playing, you know, perhaps five-set matches, and there was a quicker turnaround, I think that's when perhaps you could struggle a little bit more. But I'd like to think, you know, in a best-of-three set match, even coming back on a day-to-day basis, I don't think personally I would struggle. But I think, yeah, if it was a Slam, and you got to the latter stages, that's perhaps where you could feel the effects.

TIM HENMAN: It's more like a carbohydrate drink, it's sort of a pretty high concentration of carbohydrate. And I think, you know, we're talking about -- basically now you make sure you order a large quantity, and then you've got to send it all off for analysis so you have everything analyzed. Once it comes back with the all-clear, you can, you know, get on with it again. Just haven't really had the opportunity to do that.

TIM HENMAN: You send them to a laboratory somewhere. The LTA's medical officer, Michael Turner, he's really up to speed on a lot of these things. I mean, I've had things analyzed in the past. Just have to make sure that we get it all done. As we said, you just can't afford to take any risks.

TIM HENMAN: Well, I think it's certainly something I will do. But I think with regards to the task force that's been put in place, there's a few medical experts. But then there's also a couple of people that have been I think involved in not necessarily the supplement industry, but I think the -- Jan Leschly was CEO of SmithKline Beecham. I think there are questions as to whether we can find a company and work with a company so that, you know, they know what the players are looking for and we can end up with a situation where they will be able to guarantee there's not going to be this issue of contamination.

TIM HENMAN: Yes.

TIM HENMAN: Before my first round.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, I think it was (smiling).

TIM HENMAN: The umpire.

TIM HENMAN: It's done now, yeah.

TIM HENMAN: Presume so, yeah.

TIM HENMAN: I was a legal expert the other day. I'm a chemical expert now.

TIM HENMAN: No. The first meeting is in Miami. Yeah, I'm looking forward to hear what they've got to say. I think it's something we are taking very seriously. We want to find out how we can move forward in this because we all appreciate, from a playing point of view, there's too much uncertainty. You know, it's not good enough from our point of view.

TIM HENMAN: No, I failed it (smiling).

TIM HENMAN: No. Never understood it (smiling).