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INTERNAZIONALI D'ITALIA

May 9, 2006

Tim Henman

ROME, ITALY

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.
Q. How pleased were you with the three shots you played on the set points, first set?
TIM HENMAN: Yeah, very. I mean, you guys are getting, I'm sure, more and more aware of this sort of fine line. You feel like you construct two or three points very well, and you feel like the momentum is coming your way. You know, I was at 4-All, 15-30 and feeling like it could be a good opportunity. Six points later, I'm down Love-40 at 4-5.
And, you know, with my style, I think you at times have to throw caution to the wind. I wanted to be aggressive on those points, and it was a big -- I think it was a big factor today how consistently well I served. Those points were good example.
So, yeah, it was a big game to come through, and you just sensed then the momentum comes back in my favor and I play a good game to break to go up 6-5, and, you know, another great service game to finish it off.
Q. You played pretty well all the big points.
TIM HENMAN: Hmm. A lot of, yeah, times on my serve at, you know, 15-30 or a couple of breakpoints, I served very, very well. You know, that's always going to be a big aspect, I think, in anybody's game. But certainly in the way that I'm trying to play on clay, it's a huge help because you just are not getting that many free points certainly when the rally starts.
You know, he's a type of guy where sometimes the slower you hit the ball and the less pace, the worse he plays. But then there's a fine line because it's not really my style, is it, just to keep pushing the ball. So sometimes you play aggressively and you're hitting the ball better and better, but he feeds off of it.
So, again, it's about getting that balance right. And, you know, for the majority of the time, and certainly in the tiebreak, I did that well.
Q. In terms of a year, this particular win and having to beat this guy, how important was that?
TIM HENMAN: Yeah, yeah, it is. I thought exactly that as I started walking off the court. You know, there are times where you're not taking wins for granted, but you feel like you're confident and things are going, you know, very well and you could be, you know, moving forward into a tournament pretty comfortably. And you can, there's almost a sense of taking that for granted.
Then you get other times where, you know, I lose to Gaudio, which is obviously no disgrace in Monte-Carlo, but, you know, I need to get into a clay court tournament. This was a good opportunity.
So, you know, in the context then, I was delighted. I was really, really pleased with the performance, but most importantly the win itself. So it's just different periods of the year where, you know, you're going to take anything that you can get, and today was an example.
Q. Greg said yesterday he hadn't practiced at all since Monte-Carlo, didn't pick up a racquet. How much had you practiced?
TIM HENMAN: Yeah, I'd been practicing a lot, yeah. No, I obviously was there. I think he sort of came back on Monday and I was playing doubles and I stayed there until the Friday and had a couple of days off on the weekend.
But then, yeah, practicing, training, and that's where I feel right now. I'm feeling very, very good about my game because I'm healthy. I'm really enjoying the work that I'm doing on the practice court and in the gym, and that hasn't been the case for, you know, that period of time, for most of 2005.
So I'm just going to keep building the momentum from that point of view, but at the end of the day you need it in the tournaments. You need it on the match court. So I think that's another reason why today was a really good win for me.
Q. Do you ignore the ATP Weekly and not look at the...?
TIM HENMAN: You know, I've thought about it and I'm not in next week. I'm 99.9% sure I'm not going to get in next week. Am I happy with that, no, I want to play. But, you know, in my mind - and it's not dictated by you guys - the lower I go, the better the story when I come back up because there's no doubt in my mind that's going to happen.
So whether I'm 70 or 80 or 90 or whatever, the way I'm playing, as long as I stay healthy, then I'm going to go back up.
Q. Are you thinking of playing the week before the French regardless of what happens here this week?
TIM HENMAN: No. I might try and play a couple of matches, but I haven't actually thought about a tournament itself.
Q. Okay.
TIM HENMAN: But, no, I also appreciate that, you know, it's going to be busy irrespective of what happens in Paris when I'm coming into the grass. And, you know, I want to make sure that I have some extra time to be fresh.
So, no, there isn't. At the moment, there isn't a plan to play that week.
Q. What are you doing differently on the fitness side of things?
TIM HENMAN: I think my program is quite different, yeah, dictated by the Dijon stuff when we did the training there. I think that's helped me because not only is it slightly different, but having something, a sort of variation to work on, it's fresh. When you've been doing a similar type of training for such a long time, then it is nice to be having a different program to train with.
Q. What are the differences?
TIM HENMAN: A lot less -- I used to do a lot more sort of interval work on the track and the treadmills. The cardiovascular work is less, which is always good, but it's still pretty -- it's still not much fun (smiling).
But, yeah, probably a lot more specific weight work in the gym, both legs and upper body. I feel that the work, the sort of Pilates, that type of stuff, core stability for my back, I felt like I was doing it for such a long time and I didn't really feel that there was much improvement. I guess, you know, JP said that. He said that very, very early on. He said, you know, you keep doing all these exercise and there will be times where you think, "Nothing's happening, my back's not feeling so good, don't feel like I'm getting any stronger," then without you being aware of it, you suddenly realize that you're doing different exercises. Instead of doing three repetitions, you're suddenly doing, you know, three sets of eight. You know, it's that type of improvement that you are sort of glad to see with all the effort that you put in.
Q. Would you feel confident about your back now going into five-set matches?
TIM HENMAN: Yeah, I would. I can relate to, you know -- even at the beginning of this year, I remember when I played Tursunov. It was a pretty long match. I started to feel, you know, stiffness after seven games. You know, I was able to complete the match and we probably played three hours. But, you know, the way that I was serving and the way that I was moving, it impacts it, definitely.
And today, you know, what, we played an hour and a half or something, but it just didn't even come into my mind. And some of the practice sessions I've done, you know, where almost the focal point has just been to let's see how long we can play for kind of thing, and I've played two and a half, three hours without any stiffness. I mean, that's a good sign and it's something that I'm going to do my best to maintain.
Q. And how pleased were you when the sun came out?
TIM HENMAN: Yeah, it's tough today. I mean, it's just, you know -- I've been here since -- I got here on Thursday. I've been practicing. Andy and I had a good hit for two and a half hours on Friday. You know, I hit for three hours on Saturday. The conditions were great. Yesterday was good. Then you wake up this morning and it's pissing it down with rain, you think, "Hmm, it's gonna be a long day, isn't it?"
But that's the way it goes. But you've got to be ready to adapt to those types of things. So it was good.
Q. How hard do you find it to maintain your speed around the court? You're still very swift.
TIM HENMAN: Yeah, I'm lucky that I've always moved pretty well. But, again, you know, part of the training that we do with speed work, it's all sort of built in. It's an important aspect. Because you look at the way everyone is physically these days. I think it's so difficult to compete if you don't move well. The guy I played today is a good example. He's not necessarily got the biggest shots, but, you know, one thing you know is that he's going to run down every ball and he's going to keep doing it for a long, long time.

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