Henman is 'Mr Perfect' of the court ... but he should play volleyball

It may not help Roger Taylor and his British Davis Cup lemmings to know this as they prepare to face the might of Australia in Sydney next week, but the absent Tim Henman has the best physique in the world for tennis.

Henman, currently strengthening his shoulder muscles in the hope of returning to the game at the indoor tournament in Rotterdam on 17 February, has the physical attributes to be ranked No 1 on the computer.

The computer in question, at the Victorian Institute of Sport in Melbourne, declared Henman's body to be 95.8 per cent suitable for tennis and rated Australia's Lleyton Hewitt at only 2.9 per cent. Hewitt, the reigning Wimbledon champion and world No 1 for the past two seasons, was found to have a near-perfect body for sprinting.

None of the ATP Tour regulars studied were best suited to tennis. The American Pete Sampras, widely regarded as the best player in history, came closest to Henman with a 94.1 per cent rating and a recommendation for Australian Rules Football. Greg Rusedski, the British No 2, could put his oar in with Sir Steve Redgrave. Even Henman's body was found to be better suited to volleyball than tennis.

The awesome Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, who dominate women's tennis, impressed the computer far less than Elena Baltacha, the titleless British No 1 (ranked 158 on the WTA Tour). Baltacha's physique for tennis rated 72 per cent, putting her in fifth place behind the leader, Jennifer Capriati (95.9 per cent).

Venus, it transpires, has an ideal body for lacrosse, Serena for netball, Martina Hingis for swimming and Anna Kournikova for badminton. Baltacha, who obviously has a mountain to climb in terms of her tennis career, has what it takes for orienteering.

These conclusions were reached after Troy Flanagan, Head of Sport Science at the Victorian Insititute of Sport, fed the physical statistics of 27 male and 20 female players into the computer. The results were based on the statistics of thousands of élite athletes. Among a list of 42 criteria examined were limb length, ability to use oxygen, flexibility and genetic factors.

"When you average the body composition data from the top 20 players, you get an almost identical fit to Tim Henman," Flanagan says. "The argument that Henman lacks height, weight and power is easily dispelled when you look at the current No 1 tennis player, Lleyton Hewitt. Most successful tennis players have physical attributes that make up for their lack of height and weight. In Hewitt's case, speed is his physical attribute. You can argue from our data on the top 20 players that Henman is the perfect height and weight for his sport."

The verdict was welcomed by the world No 11 on his website, TimHenman.org, as a tonic to help his rehabilitation after an operation to his right shoulder. A Wimbledon semi-finalist four times, he is determined to succeed in his quest for a major title.

"All we are doing here," Flanagan explains, "is matching simple body measurements. What we do with our athletes is enter in physical capacities such as speed, endurance, agility, flexibility, power etc to get a much better prediction model. In addition, we should also consider the psychological markers such as decision-making, concentration, anticipation etc.

"The beauty about tennis is that you can be successful with a wide range of body types, but you must make up for any shortfalls by having superior technique, psychological skills or physical capacities.

Why does Rusedski shape up as a rower? "Our software simply matches against thousands of élite Australian teams and international athletes. Rowing requires slightly taller body type, hence Rusedski's suitability to rowing."

Why is Andre Agassi's physique better suited to football? "Once again, his dimensions fit perfectly to the average professional soccer player."

Was Flanagan surprised by the results of his research? "It is not surprising that athletes such as Hewitt and [Lindsay] Davenport were not suitable since their body shape and composition is very different to the rest of the élite group of players. Hewitt was, however, perfectly suited to sprinting. So, what he lacks in height and weight he makes up for in speed."

Flanagan adds: "You might ask, how valid is our software and database? When I averaged all players [males] and entered the height and weight of the top 20 players, the software picked tennis as one of its top two suited sports. Based on this, I am very confident with the programme's ability to match athletes to sports of similar body composition.

"This works especially well for us in talent identification for sports such as cycling, rowing, athletics, where the skills of the sport are easier to teach. Tennis is much harder since it is primarily a skill-based sport."