TMS - STUTTGART

October 16, 2001

Tim Henman

MODERATOR: Questions for Tim.

TIM HENMAN: Yes. I've seen him play a little bit actually, playing challengers a while ago. Larry was able to watch his match yesterday, so I had a pretty good idea of what I was up against. But you still have to go out there and make sure you do the right things. One slight hiccup losing my serve when I was up a break. But apart from that, I was very pleased with the way I played. I felt very confident coming into it. I've been hitting the ball really, really well in practice. I played very, very well in Vienna last week. I was looking forward to it, and am looking forward to the remainder of the week.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah. You know, I did everything but win that match. And it was, it was frustrating. It was a little bit disappointing. Having said that, in the past I've played well in those tournaments and not so well in Paris and Stuttgart. So I'd like to think that I can try and switch that around a little bit. You know, I certainly couldn't second guess myself with the performance because I played equally as well as I did last year, but it didn't go my way. I just had to move on from that and make sure I kept doing the right things in practice. Hopefully it will pay off this week.

TIM HENMAN: I think you can do. But I've probably suffered from that once or twice in the past. You've got to learn from your mistakes. I was a little bit concerned when they said the court's moving at the beginning of the match (smiling). But that was probably another reason for me not to spend too much time on the baseline. Having said that, you know, I was pleased with all aspects of my game.

TIM HENMAN: You know, there's these blocks that they sort of put together and paint over.

TIM HENMAN: The umpire just said when we were spinning the coin, going through those formalities, said, "There's a couple of loose ones at the back. Beware."

TIM HENMAN: A few ridges out there. Not the first time it's happened with this court surface. It happened in London. It happened in Vienna a couple years ago. I suppose it's not the easiest thing to put down. I should think overnight they'll put some heavy-duty nails.

TIM HENMAN: Yes.

TIM HENMAN: This one's not nearly as bad. You still have to be a little bit careful.

TIM HENMAN: I think one end, the far end from where you guys were is a little bit worse.

TIM HENMAN: My results?

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, certainly do. I think I've dwelt on the consequences a little bit too much in the past, and that certainly isn't the way to approach it. The way I'm going to qualify for the Masters is if I win matches. The way I'm going to win matches is if I go out there and play each point and the next point as hard as I can. I feel that's something that I've learned from last year. You go out there and you play with that attitude. If you win, you win. If you lose, you lose. You don't get ahead of yourself. You don't think about the past or the future. So that's what I'll try and do this year. See what happens.

TIM HENMAN: Again, what am I, 352? I'm not going to qualify with 352 points. If I win matches, then I can take care of my own deal. There's no point in worrying about what the others are up to. Having said that, you know, it helps if some of those guys lose.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, the field is, bar Rafter, pretty much as strong as it gets. Again, you know that's more reason just to worry about the next point. No good thinking about the future matches because as soon as you have that attitude, you'll lose the one you're in. I do, I feel very clear in my mind what I need to do. Again, just because I have that attitude doesn't guarantee me anything, but I know that's the right way to approach it.

TIM HENMAN: Well, not exactly that much. I've been far too aware of what's going on around me. Just like you said, an outside court, you get distracted by people moving, get distracted by ballboys, whatever. You can get distracted by a race. You know, I'm sure that's not the first time it's happened to someone. Just try my best not to do that again.

TIM HENMAN: Not that fast. I think it can certainly get a lot faster. But in comparison to Vienna, it's certainly a lot better. No, I do like the conditions. I think this is, for an indoor court, the way they should be. I think you speak to most players, they'll say that Vienna -- I'm not complaining, because I won the tournament on that surface last year, but I think for an indoor court, we have to be careful that we're not going too far on the other side of the coin, or the game in general, making it all too slow. Indoors is meant to be a faster surface. That wasn't the case last week.

TIM HENMAN: I think using, again, my attacking assets. We've done a lot of work on my serve, again. In a way, it certainly wasn't much fun at the time, but it was quite good that Larry saw me serve so badly in The Open because then he gets a good understanding of what we're trying to work from. I didn't enjoy that, but that's an area where I've struggled. I've certainly learned a great deal from his input, and I think he learned a lot from what he saw. He saw those fundamental weaknesses. It's easier for him to say, "Look, this is what happened. This is what you need to do." I certainly feel I'm a lot clearer in my mind of the specific aspects that I need to improve on. It's certainly working.

TIM HENMAN: Whatever it was, third round. It's difficult when you have those aspects in the back of your mind, you're trying to get the things right that you're working on. You're thinking, "I want to win this match, as well." It's difficult. As I had a good understanding of what I needed to work on the clay in Ecuador, moving indoors, it's moving in the right direction.

TIM HENMAN: No. Certainly a long, long way again. But, again, my understanding of it is so much better, still not perfect. I can see where I made mistakes in the past. I can now kind of see how I can put them right. It's easy on the practice court. It's whether you can keep doing it in the matches. That's what I try and do.