Tennis: Henman conjures great escape
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Your support makes all the difference.TIM HENMAN came close to adding to his dismal record in the Australian Open yesterday when he fell two sets to one behind against Sandon Stolle, the Australian ranked 240 in the world. In the end, the British sixth seed escaped to win 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in just over three hours.
Last year the British No 1 lost in the first round here and he has never progressed beyond the third round. Yesterday it was not hard to see why. During the course of the Centre Court match, the world No 7 missed a succession of shots that he would normally put away with ease, two of them simply awful smashes.
"I don't know if my eyes were shut or looking elsewhere," Henman said afterwards. "That's definitely not the way to execute the overhead." But he remained positive. "It builds confidence to know you can win when at times you are not playing your best," he added. "But in future rounds I've got to try and not dig holes for myself."
Henman's service continued to be suspect and it is hard to see how he can continue to make significant progress when there is such an inconsistency in the game's most important shot. Astonishingly, against a player who does not have a particularly destructive return of serve, he lost his first three service games, though he recovered from 5-1 down to lose the first set 6-4.
Henman's volleying, too, was erratic and he admitted that he was lucky to recover in the second set, agreeing that Stolle had two bad line decisions at 5-6. Having been given that lifeline the British No 1 did his best to throw it way again, losing his own serve again at the start of the third set. Henman could not save that set, but he did save the match and Stolle said: "Tim knows he escaped."
Henman now faces a third-round match against the big-hitting Swiss Marc Rosset - the 6ft 7in former world No 9 who is now down to 31st in the rankings.
More reports, page 27
Results, Digest, page 29
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