GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE ATP CHAMPIONSHIP

August 7, 1996

Tim Henman

TIM HENMAN: I knew it was not going to be easy. Probably this surface suits him a little more than me, maybe. Grass probably suited me more so. Having said that, you know, I still have my chances.

TIM HENMAN: It is very hot. But I don't really think that was a major factor in the match.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, difficult. When you get a guy serving big, but he is not serving and volleying, you want to try and make him play as much as possible. Having said that, against a guy of his caliber, no point in just sort of putting the ball in the middle of the court and letting him have a free swing. You need to do more than that. So I had to take risks and at times it paid off. I think in the second set I had a breakpoint, I made a good approach from -- probably should have made the volley, but, you know, unfortunately I didn't.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, that was obviously a key point.

TIM HENMAN: Sure. I think when I beat Kafelnikov, two British guys; then I beat Gustafsson to make qualies of a Grand Slam; especially in your home country, definitely does give you a lot of confidence and, you know, it gives yourself more belief that you can beat some of the tap ranked players.

TIM HENMAN: Hopefully not. Is it difficult to say because I haven't actually been home. I left the day after I had lost to go and play Davis Cup and then I went straight from Davis Cup to the Olympics. I haven't really been home. So it is difficult to judge as of yet. But, you know, I am sure more people will probably know who I am, but at the end of the day hopefully that won't change me.

TIM HENMAN: Did I feel what?

TIM HENMAN: Sure. I think it is the first time everyone has made the quarters for quite sometime, a British player, that is, so I think there was a lot of people interested in what I was doing.

TIM HENMAN: I think the end of last year was where, you know, I did make a big improvement. I won two Challenges, which was, you know a big -- I broke the top 100 last year and I think the beginning of this year, I started off very well in Australia and then in the indoor swing in Europe, that is where I think I have made the most improvement and I sort of, you know, established myself in some of the bigger tournaments.

TIM HENMAN: No, probably physical in the sense I probably trained a lot harder off the court and that -- I think that is begun to pay off and I think probably my serve, if you looked at the way I served probably twelve months ago to the way I serve now, I think that is an area that is obviously so important in the men's game and it is something that, you know, I have been able to rely on a lot more.