TMS MONTE CARLO

April 20, 2002

Tim Henman

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, it is. It's been a tough day - certainly a long one. And, you know, right up until the last minute, we weren't quite sure what was going to be happening. They were talking about tomorrow. Right up until, you know, quarter to, ten to seven, there was still a possibility that we were going to be, you know, coming back tomorrow. And then they went ahead with the other one. And it was, you know, it's difficult conditions out there. Very cold, as you guys are aware of. It's playing slow. But you've got to find a way to play in those conditions. And, you know, I did. I had my opportunity at 1-love, 40-15. Certainly was -- the momentum had swung hugely in my favor. Perhaps if I could have held on to that game, he might have gotten even more frustrated, because he was clearly getting frustrated. But, you know, having said that, if you had said to me on Tuesday afternoon at 6-7, 1-4 receiving serve that on Saturday I'd be 1-love up in the third against Moya in the semis, I think I would have taken it.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah. Yeah. No, that one was in. That was another one, I think at 3-all love-15, that was out and didn't get called. That one was certainly close, but it was in. And certainly that did prove to be a crucial game. I felt like from the end -- well, when I played my best probably at the end of the second set, that was where I was very, very consistent and using my slice backhand well. I just felt the main problem for me was that every shot that I was hitting I felt like I was trying to hit as hard as I could. And that's not really the way that I'm used to playing, even when I'm hitting the slice. I'm just attacking it so much. And it's hard for me then to keep the consistency level. And I think that's where my level dropped, at the beginning of the third, once I was up 1-love. And it just gave him an opportunity to get back in.

TIM HENMAN: Physically, I feel, you know, I feel okay. It's been -- I think mentally, it's just one of those days that is -- it's very, very long. And especially when you don't -- you're in limbo a lot of the time. We didn't know whether we were going to move to another court.

TIM HENMAN: We basically said, "Look, let's set a time." And that time was 7 o'clock. If the match before hadn't gone on, then we were coming back. And, you know, then it's sort of 20 to seven, stops raining, and they're looking at taking the covers off. So it was, it was a really fine sort of balance point between playing tonight and coming back tomorrow.

TIM HENMAN: Got here about quarter to twelve I think. So, yeah, I've been hanging around a while. But yeah, it seems like -- a few of the semifinals I've played, there was Cincinnati, there was the Wimbledon one, and here's another one.

TIM HENMAN: I'm getting my fair share. I suppose I should be used to it with the rain where we come from.

TIM HENMAN: It's just sore on my serve really. They've got one of the machines that you can do sort of a scan on it. They looked at it last night. I've just got a strain in the -- in my abdominal muscles on the left side. And that's, I think, purely from so much serving. And in all honesty, the last two years when I've come on the clay, I've had slight strains on my side. But I think now that I serve slightly differently, I'm probably putting a little bit more stress on my stomach. But from what the doctor says, you know, it's a good thing I'm not playing for certainly next week. So I can give it time to rest, because the stomach is -- it's one of the areas that you don't want to mess around with. You tear one of your stomach muscles, it's bad news.

TIM HENMAN: I wouldn't say so, no. From what he says, just three or four days' rest and I should be all right to get back at it.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, definitely. I feel like I've got, you know, I can certainly take a lot of confidence from this. I can certainly go away knowing that I've given my all in every match and I've, you know, proven to myself, I think, another level of clay court tennis.

TIM HENMAN: I think in all honesty there's probably an element of surprise. You know, having not played a match on clay since Ecuador and to come in, you know, and perform as well as I have, it takes me sometimes longer to adjust on hardcourts or even indoors. But I've adjusted really well. So I want to, you know, maintain the progress that I'm making because it's -- things are moving in the right direction, and it's good progress.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, very much so. Yeah, I've had my fair share of, you know, late-season scrambles for points, and I've made Masters on one occasion. I've come up pretty close on another couple of occasions. So it would be nice to, you know, secure my spot nice and early.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah. I think there's so many positives, I can't -- I certainly can't complain. First semifinal in a Masters Series on clay is, you know, is good. And just want to keep building from that, keep making sure that -- improve lots of aspects of my game. I think the way I'm moving and the way I'm hitting from the baseline is a good sign, because you're going to have to do that on clay. And it was -- in a funny sort of way, the conditions were tough because it took a while for me to warm up. But having said that, I didn't really need to go for my serve a great deal, because I don't think either of us was going to win - win or lose the match really with our serve. More of a question of starting the point. So I feel like when I'm serving well as well, I've got all the, you know, I've got all the tools to do some damage on this surface.