From the Wimbledon website


I'll Be Back, Henman Vows


Thursday, 28 June, 2007


Tim Henman insisted he would "absolutely" be back at Wimbledon next year after treating his Centre Court fans to another five-set drama before exiting the tournament against Feliciano Lopez in the second round.

It was his second high-octane match of the week after a disappointing season which has seen Henman slip to 74 in the world rankings, prompting much speculation that this Wimbledon would be his swansong.

But the 32-year-old ruled out any thoughts of retirement and could see some positives from his four days of rain-disrupted action.

He said: "I felt like my game, the way I've played, is not too far off sort of breaking through and getting into the second week. I think that was probably the objective.

"I will reflect on the two matches I played, and certainly the Moya one. That's the tennis I want to play more regularly, and there's no reason why I can't do that.

"As I said, I'm not going to play forever, but I'm passionate about what I do. I love what I do. I want to make the most of it.

“Today wasn’t very successful” he added, “but I want to build on it and see what happens in the second half of the year.”

Of his dramatic 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 2-6, 6-1 defeat by Lopez, which started with two games before the rain on Wednesday, Henman said: "It was a very difficult match. I thought I was playing solidly in the first two sets but every time he needed something he was able to make it happen. When you play two sets without any breaks, you just have got to keep on hanging on in there.

“I always felt his level would drop and it showed in the latter part of the third and fourth when it did drop considerably. But when you get into the fifth you have to maintain that momentum and when he hit two or three good shots in one game, he’s in the driving seat!”

Henman said he always believed he could still win, even when he was two sets to love down, and maintained that the big-match pressure in that type of situation always makes him raise his game.

“I believed I could turn it around and I got to two sets-all but in the early part of the fifth he hit a couple of good shots at the right time and made life difficult for me.”

Overall the British number two was proud of what he had achieved in the tournament, particularly given the absence through injury of compatriot Andy Murray - but was disappointed that he was again the final flag-bearer left in the draw - a situation he described as "depressing".

But he said: "That's where we're at. I think for years we've been far too accepting of mediocrity. I think you look at the some of the players, they need a little bit of a wake-up call to realise the level of play and their competition worldwide is very, very high.

"I think their expectations from the LTA are too high. The players view it almost as if they're entitled to have their coaches paid for, their coach's salary, their coach's expenses paid for when they're travel. That's not reality.

"We're very, very fortunate that the Federation has money they're able to invest in it. There's a lot of players that I don't think warrant that."

He suggested it may be time to rethink the structure of British tennis, in time to find the next generation of winners once he hangs up his tennis raquet. "We have to be a little bit more ruthless and wipe the slate clean and start really targeting the younger ones because that is going to be our future.

"If we are really passionate and determined to compete at this type of tournament, that's what we have to do."

Written by Henry Wancke

Thanks for that :D Tim was mugged a bti today, I mean two tie breaks were the only way Lopez won 2 sets. Tim outplayed him in comparison in the next two, but the last one went wrong.

I like the author's name btw roflmao

The biggest football stadium in Switzerland which is newly-buillt for Euro 2008 is in the Wankdorf area of Bern. roflmao roflmao
Tim should take courage from Wayne Arthurs.