THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 27, 1998

Tim Henman

MIKI SINGH: First question for Tim.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, definitely. I think he's definitely playing with a lot of confidence in the moment. He's not giving away any cheap points. I think that is making life difficult for his opponents and made life difficult for me today.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, sure. I think -- I wouldn't say I served particularly well today. I was struggling with my first serve. I think that has to do with the way he's returning. He's putting a lot of pressure on my serve. Having said that, I had a bit of a momentum going with me after winning the second set. Quite rightly, I think the beginning of the third set was the key part. I think I probably had a slight let-down, and he really picked his game up.

TIM HENMAN: Yes. You want to try to maintain those levels. I think early on in the third set, I didn't do that. That's where the damage was done. But I think you've got to give him credit with the way he was able to bounce back. I think at the end of the second set, I was playing some attacking tennis, and it was paying off. I think he was the one under pressure. As he's done on a lot of occasions, he was able to respond.

TIM HENMAN: I don't know. I think I probably got better and better as my winning matches went on. I definitely played great tennis against Moya, but I think I backed it up with the matches against Korda and Kuerten. I'll take huge positives out of this week. It's going to help my ranking. I really feel like it's kick-started the year. I haven't been particularly consistent. The way things work, I've really got the year going, and I want to maintain that.

TIM HENMAN: Ranking points don't lie. You've got to earn every single one of them. If he wins this tournament, as everybody knows, he will have accumulated the most in the last 12 months. He hasn't won a Grand Slam. He's come very close. Finals in Australia, I think he made 16s at U.S. Open, 16s at Wimbledon, 16s at the French, he won Monte-Carlo, won Indian Wells. His results speak for themselves. I think it won't be long before he does win a major. If he does win tomorrow, I definitely think he deserves it.

TIM HENMAN: No, not at all. I think it was a great atmosphere out there. He's had a lot of great support. I think I had a lot of good support out there, too. I think the better the atmosphere the crowd creates, that tends to lift me, whether it's for or against me.

TIM HENMAN: If you're saying that Rios doesn't have a big weapon, I think you're wrong. It may not be the speed which he hits the ball with, which with other people you might associate that as a weapon. But he's got a deceptive serve, moves around a lot. I think that was something on his second serve, it's kicking into your body a lot. Obviously, a tactic of mine was to try and chip and charge off that. I found it quite difficult to, especially being a lefty with a ball when it bounces coming into your body. You know, his unforced errors from the baseline are really minimal. He doesn't miss too many balls. When he wants to, he can come into the net and finish off the points with good volleys. He's got a good all-around game.

TIM HENMAN: I think on the passing shots, he's got pretty short swings, so he takes the ball early. That doesn't give you so much time to get into the net. Having said that, yeah, he his hits very close to the lines.

TIM HENMAN: I don't know. Did he take a toilet break before I served?

TIM HENMAN: He's got a weak bladder.

TIM HENMAN: Maybe he's got a weak bladder. No, I don't think -- that doesn't interfere with his tennis game too much.

TIM HENMAN: I think he's been capable of playing great tennis for a long, long time. His consistency is now obviously at a new level. You know, to play Indian Wells, Key Biscayne, when you've got the type of field that's been present, to be winning the first one and through to the final, is obviously a hell of an achievement. I expect he'll be very keen to keep the momentum going.

TIM HENMAN: I think all two-handers are sometimes tough to read. He hits it well.

TIM HENMAN: I wouldn't say -- I mean, he can hit his first serve pretty quick. But I think against me, it was a smart tactic to try and get a higher percentage in and take a little bit of pace off it. He can hit the corners pretty well with a lot of slice, a lot of spin.

TIM HENMAN: Yes.

TIM HENMAN: In what way?

TIM HENMAN: No.

TIM HENMAN: I don't know. Hasn't happened for a while.

TIM HENMAN: Say that again.

TIM HENMAN: Did I lose it 6-Love or 6-1 (laughter)?

TIM HENMAN: There you go. That answers that question.

TIM HENMAN: Not mentally shattered. I got myself back into the match. I was disappointed for him to have dominated so early on in the third set. You know, as I said, he raised his game. I've got to be able to look at the way I played this week and learn from it, then continue with that strategy for more and more tournaments.

TIM HENMAN: I think it's as fair as it gets.

TIM HENMAN: No, I don't think so. I'm going to get more help from grass, obviously. I'm going to get less help from clay. So I think this is pretty much as neutral as it gets. I think you could look at the style of players that are through to the semis. I am the most attacking. Having said that, there's still going to be serve and volleyers that will win here in the future, probably one in the past.

TIM HENMAN: It will happen again. To get out of it quicker?

TIM HENMAN: Sure. I think I look at the way I played in those poor weeks. You know, I wasn't attacking enough. I was letting people come at me, dictating points. That definitely isn't the way I should be playing. The way I played in London, I think that was back on the right lines. I played three pretty good matches there. Obviously, this week I've shown that serving and volleying, hitting big serves, being aggressive from the baseline is the way I should be playing. I shouldn't be playing like the way I played in Indian Wells, spending all the time on the baseline, not going for my serve enough. Those are the things that I've learned this week. I've got to, A, continue it. B, if I start to struggle, remember the way I played here.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, definitely. I've never beaten Medvedev, so that's something that I'd like to put right. I think both Greg and I feel very confident about our chances.

TIM HENMAN: Sure, difficult. The conditions are tough. The ball is moving around in the air. The wind is not particularly constant. Having said that, you know, I think he was making a lot of good passing shots, hitting the ball low, hitting the ball quick. That also makes life tough for me at the net. Having said that, that's still the tactic that won me the second set when I was aggressive. I moved forward and I was able to pick off some good volleys.

TIM HENMAN: I wouldn't say so, no. I think on all the courts here, it will be pretty swirly.

TIM HENMAN: I'm going back to London. We've got Davis Cup next week.

TIM HENMAN: Playing Tokyo two weeks after.

TIM HENMAN: We'll be playing on grass.

TIM HENMAN: Yes.