TMS - MADRID

October 14, 2003

Tim Henman

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah. There's always disappointment when you lose. You know, I was very pleased with the way I was playing last week. You know, I obviously didn't find it quite as easy playing in these conditions. You know, at this level, you know, it is decided by very little I think. Certainly all credit to him. I was having a tough time with his first and second serve. Whereas I was able to attack a lot more last week on guys' second serves and get into rallies. Today I found it difficult to pick up that rhythm and to try and be as aggressive as I wanted to be.

TIM HENMAN: I think the first set was obviously, you know, fairly critical in today's match. You know, certainly to have not really had any chances on his serve and then break back was a big boost. And I was -- I got an early lead in the tiebreak. We had a pretty long rally, and I sort of hung in there, got an extra ball back, then had a passing shot I probably could have made. That would have been the difference between 3-Love and 2-1. Then he certainly stepped up his game. I think certainly the way he was serving, he served very well, obviously, but from the baseline, he's one of those guys that sometimes is a bit erratic, but he's very aggressive. I felt like when we got into rallies, I was sort of on the defensive a little bit, but still trying to get forward. Yeah, it's frustrating. But there certainly are aspects that I can go away and work on. Basel next week is somewhere where I have a lot of good memories from. I want to keep building on that. There's certainly nothing wrong with me and nothing wrong with my game at the moment. I lost today but, you know, I got to keep building on that for the remaining two weeks.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, different.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, it's been definitely my most testing year as a professional. You know, certainly through ups and downs. Certainly the downs, you do learn perhaps a little bit more. You know, I feel very good that I've been able to, you know, come through it now physically. You know, I feel like my game is ready to move in the right direction, because there were long periods when I didn't feel that was the case. There was sort of a lot of frustration. When you break down the year and look at how much I've played and when I really felt, you know, healthy again, I would say honestly, you know, I've played properly since Hamburg. You know, I played well in Hamburg, I played well at the French, you know, Queen's and Wimbledon were okay. Played very well in Washington. You know, didn't have the results the rest of the summer. So my year has been, you know, based around five or six tournaments. You know, I'm probably 30 or 35 or something at the moment. If I can do that, you know, in so little time, then if I play a full schedule, play the way I'm capable of, you know, add to the way I'm playing at the moment, then absolutely no doubts that 2004's going to be pretty exciting.

TIM HENMAN: Not the consistency. Yeah, I'm serving obviously a lot bigger than I have been. You know, that's going to develop more and more. I think the one aspect that I struggle with is my ball toss a little bit. I think when my ball toss goes a little bit too far to the left, that's when I struggle to get up after the ball with my racquet. I served well in the first set. I don't have too many complaints. In the second set, at the beginning, I lost my rhythm and was a bit erratic. That was when on second serves, when he's returning aggressively, he was putting me under a lot of pressure. As it was, I felt like I finished off the match serving okay. But the early part of the second set was a bit of a struggle.

TIM HENMAN: I think, you know, the majority of it was physical because it took me a lot longer to get over my initial shoulder operation, and then I had a minor setback with something different. It just took time. I think in the early stages I was very positive and optimistic, which was right, but I think with that attitude, when it took longer than it did, there's an element of frustration. Yeah, it's difficult. I've been fortunate with the lack of injuries that I've had, and long may that continue. But when you do have an extended break from the game, it's difficult to come back. But certainly I feel now a hundred percent mentally and physically. You know, I'm still so excited, even more excited about the game. And that's what I want to finish off these last two weeks and try and have as good of results as I can. You know, looking forward to that December month really where I did nothing really tennis-wise last year. That's always been a really good time to work on a lot of aspects of my game and get off to a really strong start. You look in some aspects what I've got to defend, I don't have any results till Hamburg. So I think there's a lot of opportunities ahead.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, not really. I'll certainly give that some thought once I've, you know, finished this year. But I think it will be less than normal because I haven't played as much as normal. This year has been certainly curtailed. I'll have a, you know, couple of weeks away from everything. But then I'll certainly work very hard on the physical aspects, then pretty much the whole month of December is a great opportunity to work at everything, the physical side of things and my tennis game.

TIM HENMAN: He's good. I think it's as simple as that. I think he's got a modern-day game. You know, he's got a great serve. He looks like he can serve like that for very long periods. I remember watching in Cincinnati, and he lost the first set against Philippoussis in the first round 6-1, and didn't lose his serve the rest the tournament. You know, he goes for his shots. You know, he makes -- perhaps he hasn't got the best of game in areas, but, you know, he plays the match the way he wants to play. And, you know, he's another one of the up-and-coming - well, not up-and-coming, is he? He's another one of the Americans that are pushing the top of the game.