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ATP MASTER SERIES MADRID

October 17, 2006

Tim Henman

MADRID, SPAIN

Q. In the circumstances, is that even more pleasurable than yesterday?
TIM HENMAN: Yes. I think I wasn't as consistent, but the first and third sets my level was probably even better than yesterday.
As the game stats suggest, it's dictated so much by momentum. Even when I lost the second set, I knew I still played some good tennis. And whenever I was getting a chance to come forward and put pressure on him, I knew it was something that he didn't like. Yeah, it was fantastic. I couldn't be happier.

Q. You seem to be saying your serve is improving.
TIM HENMAN: There's two ways of doing it. You can either stand back and then move forward as he hits his second serve. The timing has to be right on.
When the conditions are quick through the air like this, I prefer just to stand in and then not only move horizontally. I'm not going to try and move forward and then hit the shot and then go. And therefore I can stand in a little bit closer.
Yes, it's a tactic that's been working really well. It's one of those things it's very obvious what's going to happen, but it sends that message. The vast majority of these guys don't like it. When you come in time and time again and put the pressure on, they just don't have time to breathe and have the rhythm that they're normally accustomed to.

Q. Any physical injuries?
TIM HENMAN: No. Usual blisters on my toe. Just jogged my knee on one volley. If anything, it just gave me a distraction, something else to think about. But no, it's just fine.

Q. Do you think they would give you the wild card if they knew you were going to do such a job on the Spanish players?
TIM HENMAN: Good question. I think Manolo was interested in my style of play. I've chatted with him over the years, and he's one of the few guys that still really likes to see the volleys. So I said to him when he was kind enough to give me the wild card that I was going to volley even more than normal. So I feel like I've fulfilled my promise.

Q. Off on a slight tangent. Another victory against a Spanish opponent. Any chance the English can do the same thing in Barcelona?
TIM HENMAN: What is it, it takes three, isn't it? I think it's similar. When it's a two-horse race, anything can happen. Let's hope so anyway.

Q. When the tennis is flowing and it all comes naturally and you're not feeling any twinges or anything, how good is that? When you're actually doing all the things that you want to do and then coming off, how does that make you feel?
TIM HENMAN: It's the best. That's what fundamentally my career has been all about. I love what I do. So there's no question when I've been struggling over the last year or 18 months and I haven't felt as good on the court, there's no question it can be very very frustrating.
Paul stresses to me a lot that you've really got to enjoy these moments because, as I've said before, it's easy for your wins to be less enjoyable and the defeats to be more painful. When I'm playing tennis like this and reaping the rewards from the work that I've put in, I want to enjoy it. And I think it's evident in my attitude on the court. I'm pretty relaxed and just trying to take advantage with nothing really to lose.

Q. Were you enjoying some of the points so much that you were stopping to look at the replays?
TIM HENMAN: I've always been the one who said, "Turn it off". In the past because it's a distraction. And now it's like, you hit a couple of good shots so it's like, I quite fancy seeing that one again. I think it's another vehicle for the fans. It's like the Hawkeye, the challenge. I think it's good to use what we have.

Q. He actually said apparently in his press conference, Ferrer, that this was the worst day of his life. Does that say more about the fact that he obviously couldn't do what he wanted to do, you just played him out of his game?
TIM HENMAN: Blimey. I think a bit of perspective might be in order for him. I've played these types of guys enough in the past. When I was playing well on clay and did well in the French, there was plenty of talk in the locker room about my style of play and a lot of guys didn't really fancy having to try and counteract it.
Yeah, you know, it's quick like this. They know the way I'm going to play, but it's still not very enjoyable for them.

Q. Do you think Wimbleton will go for it, or do you think they should?
TIM HENMAN: I thought they were going to go for it in 2007. Yeah, I think it should. I think it's good for any. I can't see the down side of it. I think it's great for the players. I think it's great for the line judges and the umpires. It's such a difficult job they're doing. You don't really want an outcome of a match to be dictated by something like that. The fans love it as well. I understand the cost implications, but that's the only thing that's necessarily an argument that Wimbleton could come up with.

Q. Actually overall it's well liked overall, but it's put more responsibility on you guys.
TIM HENMAN: I think that's good. It shows he's still got the confidence in his eyes and what he's seeing. I think the only difficult one is with Hawkeye coming in, then Cyclops has to go. I think that's really hard to be calling the serve just with a line judge. And it's still difficult for us to then know whether you should be challenging that.

Q. Talk of the final, your play rate. Will we have Henman for two or three years more?
TIM HENMAN: I think four or five probably. I don't know. I hope so. I don't know. It's something that I try not to think about a great deal. I just want to be enjoying my tennis and obviously playing this type of level. And then if I am playing this type of level, then I can see myself playing for a longer time.
There are other times where I've struggled and my body has not felt good, and it's very hard to maintain your motivation and your commitment for the game. But that's just a challenge for me at my age and this stage of my career.

Q. And also you have demonstrated it's really difficult, but you got the same in Paris, do you think it's good to play on all the surfaces as possible?
TIM HENMAN: Yeah. Absolutely. There's no doubt that it's made me a much better player. It's a must. You have to be able to play in those types of conditions now. Because these -- these conditions, Tokyo, they're the exception. There's very few tournaments where the speed of the courts is on the quicker side. Everything else is -- you look at the tournaments in the beginning of the year, you look at the Australian Open, it's not medium pace. I'd say this is medium fast.
The other tournaments are not medium pace. I think they're medium slow. I can't serve and volley all the time. I don't serve big enough. That's where you're going to need your all around game.

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