TIM HENMAN had said all along that it would be deep into the summer before we should expect to witness genuine signs of his renaissance and if he achieved anything before then, it would be simply a bonus, nothing more. The eternal optimists refused to be denied their Wimbledon kicks and were aghast at his quarter-final defeat. They should have been more patient, more willing to listen.
Henman’s 6-3, 6-4 victory in the Legg Mason Classic final in Washington DC last night against Fernando González, the raging bull of Chile, indicated that he knows more about what he should be able to do, where and when, than anybody else. Three weeks of shelter from the Wimbledon fallout has obviously done the British No 1 a power of good.
If the best test of all for Henman would have been to face Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi back to back on successive days in the 97 per cent humidity of the capital of the United States — he came from match point down to defeat Roddick, the No 2 seed, in their first meeting on a steamy Saturday afternoon — his rock-steady performance against González augurs well for the rest of August, and the year.
Henman has had a terrific, timely week, with the Tennis Masters Series event in Montreal — where, ironically, he will meet González in the first round — and Cincinnati to come before a short break heralds the final grand slam tournament of the year, the US Open, which starts in New York on August 25. That he completed his first championship success in 19 months with a trademark forehand volley was an appropriate measure of icing. “To a certain extent my focus wasn’t on winning,” he said. “It’s been more on my performance and what I am trying to do to improve as a player. There have been times when I’ve concentrated too much on winning and that puts extra pressure on you. It becomes a negative spiral.
“But this match and this week I’ve been working hard on my serve, trying to be more aggressive. I have been moving better and when I do those things, they are going to be the ingredients for me to play well and hopefully winning matches. It’s been a tough 12 months. My shoulder problems have been well documented, but I’ve put those behind me. Things have changed. I feel ready to pick up from where I left off before I was hurt.”
Advertisement
It was difficult to know where to begin to praise Henman’s 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 victory over Roddick, the Wimbledon and Australian Open semi-finalist who had come into the event having won the title in Indianapolis the previous week. Although swept aside early on, Henman, who began the week at No 38 in the world, recovered his poise to break Roddick’s phenomenal serve once to take the second set and save a match point with an instinctively aggressive move at 5-4 in the third.
Of that, and the subsequent tie-break that Henman won 7-1, Roddick said: “He (Henman) gave me an absolute gift to get to match point and then I hit a decent return on it. He hit a pretty good volley. I didn’t really have much of a look at a pass. I was half a step away from giving that passing shot a serious look. But credit to him to be able to hit a volley like that, match point down.
“He came out big in the breaker. He hit a huge forehand on the second point. He just played flawless tennis. He got around my second serves and was able to come in on it, which he hadn’t really done the whole match.”
For Henman, the event represented his first final since the 2002 Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells and the breaking of a tournament duck that stretched back to January last year when he defeated Mark Philippoussis for the Australian hard-court title in Adelaide. It is a year since he felt the twinges in his right shoulder that necessitated arthroscopic surgery in November and marked his fragile start to 2003. Henman, 29 next month, entered Wimbledon in June with a 9-9 record on the year that had improved to 18-10 with success last night.
The manner of his victories against Roddick and González cannot help but improve his sense of wellbeing. Henman will fly to Montreal today where Greg Rusedski, the British No 2 who lost to Roddick last week, is also competing. Rusedski’s first-round opponent is Nicolas Lapentti, of Ecuador.