Tim Henman has withdrawn from next week's Pilot Pen event in New Haven because of lingering back problems.
Henman, who has lost in the first round of his last two events in Washington and Cincinnati, hopes to make a full recovery in time for the US Open.

"It's frustrating because I haven't had that many problems with it all year; in the summer it was fine," he said.

"But playing on hard courts is a lot tougher on the body and my back hasn't reacted as well as I would've wanted."

Andy Murray has already pulled out of the New Haven event and both Britons are now struggling to regain full fitness before the final Grand Slam of the year, which starts a week on Monday, 27 August.

"It's tough to concentrate on winning when I'm worrying about my back so I want to try and get it right as soon as possible," Henman added.

"My goal now is to try and get as much treatment on it as possible before the start of the US Open."

:( without the match practice though, even if Tim gets fit in time, its going to be a brief USO for him I feel.

Same with Andy actually...

:moody:

Yeah, its a real shame for both of them...
Especially Henman, Murray has years ahead of him but Father Time is catching up with Tim.

*wonders whether Henman will be calling it a day before the end of the year*

oh well lets take some positives from this :)

they can both just write this year off now, try and relax and shake off these injuries and concentrate on next season

I prefer that to Triscos thoughts :( but I wonder too....

It must be getting near to decision time for him...
How old is he now? 32-33? He needs match practice and lots of it but if he is having difficulty with his back.. and gets beat my players who seem to be playing out of thier skins at the time.. it's a tough one for him.

With regard to Tim's back problems, perhaps he should look towards the example of Ivan Lendl. He suffers from all sorts of back problems now in his later life.

Perhaps Tim needs to think about that very carefully.

:( I know, I just hate the thought of him quitting soooo much.

I hate the thought of Tim quitting too, but would be more worried if I was a staunch Murray fan - 19 and suffering injuries all the time... doesn't bode well for a long career :huh:

It's a real shame. I hoep I am wrogn but I don't think Tim has a hope in hell of gettgin veyr far in any tournie at the moment. He's had nto real match practice and it has shown. Mayeb he has got a real nagging back problem now and if so, mayeb eh will call ti a day. :shrug: As a fan I'm sad but I am completely acceptant of him retiring soon now. it woudl eb nice if he could pull somethign great out at Wimby first but the way hsi ranking is, we all know that he could meet fed or any other big name in round one. Last year he had his best ever chance at Wimby draw wise and unseeded and it was not to be. I feel he had the potential to go far into that draw, but he didn;t so Ive kind of coem to the conslusion that we will probably have to accep tan unspectacular end to his career.

I'm more worried for Murray becuase he had done all the hard work getting to top 10 and had real chances to go far in slams. Ok, he has a career ahead of him but i think he needed to be able to play at top level in this stage of his career and keep up with the competition. This could be a huge setback for him mentally and rankings wise. No offence to Tim of course, but he's had his chances and Andy's are onyl just beginning.