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MASTERS SERIES MONTE-CARLOApril 16, 2007Tim HenmanMONTE-CARLO, MONACO THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. What to do. Couple of volleys I suppose and you got breakpoints, you had breakpoints in the first set. And then -- TIM HENMAN: Yeah, I think, you know, I actually played some good tennis in the circumstances. Yeah, I haven't really practiced that much. A couple of big points, you know, hit a couple of good misses. I think the best one was at 3-4, 15-40, because he committed to the passing shot and I was closing in. That was the one where he hits the mishit forehand and I've kind of gone past it and leaves me with no shot. But, yeah, it's always going to be who can convert their chances, and from his point of view he had Love-40 on my serve. I played some good points to get out of that. The nature of my situation is not easy coming into the first clay court tournament and playing a former French Open champion. It's a tough start. So, you know, that's the sort of predicament. I want to get more matches, but that's a difficult scenario. Q. So you're going to play right away through to the French. What are you playing? TIM HENMAN: I would have thought I'll get in. I think I'm four out of Rome. I'd like to play Rome. I'm not so sure about Hamburg with the conditions. Struggled with my back after Davis Cup, for whatever reason, and if it's going to be as cold as it is, then, you know, maybe I'd like to just play Rome and then the French. But you know, we'll see. Q. When you played at Roland Garros a few years ago you had a really good first set. How can you get a good start against him? TIM HENMAN: It's my style of game. There's two sides to the equation: If I'm aggressive then I'm taking his time away. It doesn't give him time to get into that rhythm. They love to have time to not only prepare but to hit their shots. And they like to hit, ten, fifteen, twenty balls in each rally. But if I serve and volley or I chip and charge on his first serve, the point is going to be three or four shots maximum. But then on my side of the coin it's high risk. Your margin for error is very, very small. That's why for, you know, long portions of the match I played very, very well. But as you guys said, and I know, it's only a couple of points that are going to make the difference. In a tight first set he was the one that was able to get that break of serve. He starts to play better after that. Q. How much practice did you have, Tim, for today? TIM HENMAN: The most I played for was an hour. Yeah, again, I don't know why, but my back's been pretty sore. That's the you know predictability of it. If I wasn't doing the training and, you know, I hadn't done the necessary things then you'd understand why, or I could. But, yeah, is it the transition to clay? I don't think so, because clay, if anything, is a bit softer and the sliding I feel is comfortable. Q. How did it feel after Davis Cup? TIM HENMAN: That didn't help. But, no, I practiced just for an hour on Tuesday and Wednesday in London and didn't serve. Then when I got here I didn't serve on Friday when I hit. Just played an hour on Saturday and Sunday, so it's just I guess I'll need to rest a little bit and get ready for Rome and just prepare for that. Q. Just sort of dealing with the constant frustration? TIM HENMAN: Yeah. Q. Because you knew it was going to be that way, but when it keeps happening I suppose it's frustrating. TIM HENMAN: Because it's unpredictable. You sort of feel like you get things back under control. Back had been good for long periods, but then it just flares up. I guess that's the nature of the problem, that it is a little bit degenerative. But I don't think it really restricted me as much as I thought it was going to today. Q. Apart from losing, did you enjoy being out there an center court? TIM HENMAN: Couple times I sort of had a look around. I thought, This is a pretty special place playing on the center court with a pretty much full house and the weather the way it is. I saw Jonathan at one stage peering from the window. I thought his view would have looked pretty good. Q. I don't know if you were aware of Roger and Rafa's press announcement today, or their meeting today. TIM HENMAN: Yeah. Q. In terms of what the ATP is trying to do -- and you've been in the midst of this -- what's your reading or your take on the kind of unified voice that the players have that they're not perhaps in the consultative process as much as they should be? TIM HENMAN: Yeah, I certainly see where the players are coming from. I sympathize with Etienne. He's trying to make some changes for, you know, what he thinks is the benefit of the game. But it's just, as I think different generations have seen over the years, it's very, very difficult. I just think it's a pretty unfortunate scenario where you have the ATP with the Association of Tennis Professionals, which is 50% players and 50% tournaments. Therefore we've got lawsuits -- I think I'm right in saying -- from both Monte-Carlo and Hamburg, and so are we in essence suing themselves? You know, you've got a situation with Zeljko is obviously going to be protecting his tournament, and I think we can all understand that. And then he's on the board of the ATP. You know, I asked the question: Why is the Association of Tennis Professionals made up of 50% of the tournaments? Are we, as the players, not better off being represented on our own? I don't know the answer to that. Maybe there is a logical answer why. I can see the history where the ATP evolved from, but I think there's quite a few players that feel that perhaps we would be better off being a separate organization. Q. You said you sympathize with Etienne. Do you feel that the ATP is in safe hands? TIM HENMAN: We all talk, and you guys talk as much as anyone about the schedule and the calendar, and we want to try and shorten the season. When guys get injured you're the first guys to say it's not good for the tournament. So the process, what they're trying to do is that the schedule and the calendar, to a certain extent, doesn't make sense. There are a lot of tournaments, and nine Masters Series from the commitment from the players' point of view is difficult. When you do try to go about making those changes that's very, very difficult. Monte-Carlo doesn't want to be downgraded, and I understand that, and likewise at Hamburg. So it seems like whatever route you go down, their hands are tied. So how do we ever make some changes? I don't know. Q. No ideas yourself? TIM HENMAN: Not really, no. You look at all these different scenarios and it does become very, very difficult. And then you get into the whole legal thing. There's lawsuits flying around that doesn't make anyone's job any easier. Q. How much discussion has there been between the players? How much have you spoken with Roger or Rafael? TIM HENMAN: I've spoken with Roger quite a lot. Obviously he feels a great weight of responsibility given his stature and position in the game. He is definitely looking out for the game and the history. So I think from his point of view that the dialog is very, very important. I'm sure there's going to be a lot more in the near future. End of FastScripts |
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