Henman stays focused on bigger picture

There is not really a lot Patrick Rafter can tell Tim Henman about ending a frustrating run of losing finals that the British No 1 does not know already. The Australian's advice probably would be along the lines of what Henman was telling himself yesterday: "Be patient, mate; keep going for your shots."

There is not really a lot Patrick Rafter can tell Tim Henman about ending a frustrating run of losing finals that the British No 1 does not know already. The Australian's advice probably would be along the lines of what Henman was telling himself yesterday: "Be patient, mate; keep going for your shots."

Rafter lost five consecutive finals in 1997, the last of them to Carlos Moya in Long Island in the Hamlet Cup. After that, he dismantled poor Greg Rusedski in the US Open final. The following year, Rafter successfully defended the title.

Henman, having said that he would take his inspiration from Rafter after losing his seventh successive final last Sunday against Sweden's Thomas Enqvist, 7-6, 6-4, in the ATP Tour Masters Series tournament in Cincinnati, intends to concentrate on the positive aspects of an impressive week's work.

Not only did Henman defeat Pete Sampras in straight sets after losing in all of their six previous matches, but the 25-year-old from Oxfordshire also managed to avoid the anticlimax of losing his next match,defeating the tricky Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.

Henman then won a long semi-final duel against Gustavo Kuerten, of Brazil, and in his five matches Henman only lost his serve four times. His efforts raised him from No 17 to No 11 in the Champions' Race, giving impetus to his prospects of qualifying as one of the top eight for the Masters Cup in Lisbon at the end of November.

"Losing in the final was disappointing, but there was not a lot more I could do with my game," Henman said yesterday, as he prepared to compete in the RCA Championships in Indianapolis. "Thomas had a lot to do with the result [in Cincinatti]. I've played a hell of a lot worse in the past and won.

"Losing my last sevenfinals is not something I'm proud of. What I need to do differently is a difficult question to answer. I played badly against [Rainer] Schuttler in Doha last year, but the other finals have been close and didn't go my way.

"The only way I'm going to break that is to keep getting to finals. If I keep playing as well as I am, there's no way I'm not going to win. If I can overcome the barrier of beating Pete, there's no doubt in my mind that I can overcome other hurdles."

Henman is encouraged by the consistency of his first serve last week, plus the fact that opponents had difficulty passing him, but he acknowledged that there is room for improvement on his second serve if he is to maintain hismomentum for the US Open which starts on 28 August.

"My preparation has been a hell of a lot better than last year, when I was really struggling, he said. "But it's important that I back up what I did last week with what I do this week. I'm motivated and hungry to keep the roll going."

Disappointed to lose in five sets to Australia's Mark Philippoussis in the fourth round at Wimbledon, Henman says his visit to America has been therapeutic. "It's nice to the States, where there isn't so much attention," he said. "If the attention rises going into the US Open, that's great. If people are talking about you, you know you are playing well. But theattention couldn't be as big as it is going into Wimbledon."

HENMAN'S RUN OF FINAL DEFEATS

R Schuttler (Ger) 7-5 1-6 (Jan 1999, Doha, concrete) Y Kafelnikov (Rus) 2-6 6-7 (Feb 1999, Rotterdam, hard) P Sampras (US) 7-6 4-6 6-7 (Jun 1999, Queen's Club, grass) K Kucera (Slovak) 4-6 6-7 6-4 6-4 6-7 (Oct 1999, Basle, carpet) C Pioline (Fr) 7-6 4-6 6-7 (Feb 2000, Rotterdam, hard) L Hewitt (Aus) 4-6 6-7 (Mar 2000, Scottsdale, concrete) T Enqvist (Swe) 7-6 6-4 (Aug 2000, Cincinnati, concrete)