Resurgent Henman prefers to fight his own tournament battles

Solo approach boosts British No 1's confidence in preparation for match against Ferrero as American No 2 seed rediscovers his form

Tim Henman graduates to the Centre Court at the French Open here today to test himself against Juan Carlos Ferrero, a Spanish master on clay, knowing that, whatever the result, he has stashed confidence in the bank for Wimbledon.

By advancing to the third round, Henman is almost certain to be ranked in the world's top 32, the cut-off for a seeding, and may be placed as high as the top 16 after the computerised formula sifts through his grass-court record over the past two years. This includes consecutive Wimbledon semi-finals and finals at the Stella Artois Championships at Queen's Club.

The British No 1's season, delayed after surgery to his right shoulder last November, has suddenly gained momentum in spite of the slow courts and heavy balls on his least favourite surface. Moreover, the 28-year-old's individuality has come to the fore again on the question of coaching.

Larry Stefanki, with whom Henman has worked since July 2001, having thought his own way through that seasons' clay court and grass court tournaments, is due to arrive in London from California on Monday. Should Henman achieve one of the major one-off victories of his career by beating Ferrero, the third seed and runner-up here last year, Stefanki will join him in Paris. Otherwise Henman will meet him in London to start his preparation for Wimbledon.

Stefanki travelled with John McEnroe in the later stages of the great American's career. Before that, McEnroe toured without a coach, preferring to consult Tony Palafax, the Mexican former Davis Cup player, when he spent time at home in New York, or to call him if he had a problem with his game during a tournament.

Henman and Stefanki may be moving towards a similar arrangement. "Yes, we both feel that way," Henman said. "Some people would say they like to have someone with them week in and week out. That's great if they want to do it that way, but I don't think that's necessary for me. I don't want it that way - nor does Larry. If I'm struggling with a shot, he knows my game well enough now."

During the spring and summer of 2001, after parting from David Felgate, his coach for almost nine years, and recently appointed the Lawn Tennis Association's director of performance, Henman enjoyed his independence and the responsibility of planning his own schedule. He acknowledged, however, that he needed a coach to monitor his game and spot the flaws in his technique he could not see for himself.

After defeating Todd Martin in four sets on Thursday to reach the third round here for the fourth time in five years, Henman said: "Todd is in a similar situation. He doesn't really have a coach full-time, but works with Jose Higueras. Todd says it's great that away from tournaments they go and practise in Mission Hills, California, or wherever they choose to be, and work on improving things in Todd's game."

Emphasing that he and Stefanki intend to maximise their time together on the practice courts ahead of tournaments, Henman revealed that working with his coach during tournaments sometimes proved counter-productive. "One of the things Larry and I talked about - and this is more of an issue for me - is that when we're working on aspects [of my game] at a tournament, I try and implement them in the match and sometimes, when they don't work, I get frustrated. I sort of say to myself, 'I've been working on that for the last three days, and now it's useless in the match'. I tend to dwell on that a lot more, whereas when I'm out there on my own, it doesn't seem to faze me a great deal."

It seems that Henman is able to deal with problems better if there is no one there to complain to. As an example, he recounted what happened in Hamburg, his last event before the French Open, which also marked the end of Stefanki's most recent stint travelling with him.

"My slice backhand return," Henman said, "is something that we've worked on a lot, because I think it's an important shot on clay. When I was playing against [Olivier] Rochus I could not have hit it any worse. I dwelt on that, thinking that after working on it for three days it seemed to be getting worse. Todd Martin's serve is five times harder to return that Rochus', but all of a sudden I kept it a lot simpler. I'm sure you could count on one hand the number of chip backhand returns I missed against Todd."

Stefanki will be in Henman's corner at Wimbledon, but in future their working relationship is likely to be centred on the weeks before the major championship and in advance of a cluster of ATP Tour events.

Greg Rusedski, the British No 2, defeated in the first round here by the Russian Nikolay Davydenko, is already back in London practising on the lawns without a coach. The 29-year-old Rusedski, who has worked with four different coaches over the last six seasons, had not played for nine months before the Davydenko match, having had surgery to a foot and a knee.

While beset by injuries, Rusedski suggested that his last coach, Sven Groeneveld, find a new client. Groeneveld worked with Mario Ancic, of Croatia, until they parted recently.

"Right now I'm not looking for a coach," Rusedski said. "I've got my physical trainer and my physio, who can hit a few balls with me. If I don't know what I'm doing out there at this stage [of my career], I don't think I'll ever know what I'm doing out there. I think I've got it under control at the moment."