Tennis ace tim henman backs andy murray to succeed

By Simon Hayes on March 6, 2008 2:17 PM |

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TIM HENMAN is tipping Andy Murray to be a smash hit in 2008 – but still thinks Roger Federer is the man to beat.

Henman teamed up with Colin Montgomerie on Tuesday (March 4) for a Sport Relief golf challenge at HSBC’s headquarters in Canada Square (see Colin's interview here) and he spoke to The Wharf about Britain’s hot tennis prospect.

Murray beat world number one Federer in Dubai this week, and Henman said: “Any time you beat Federer is fantastic, so it’s going to give him a great platform to build from.

“He’s been a bit up and down this year but winning two tournaments is obviously great for his confidence. He’s still young, only 20, and sometimes people get a little bit carried away and expectations sometimes get pretty high.

“If he can remain patient and keep improving his game then there will be a lot of exciting things to come. I wouldn’t say the French Open is going to be his best chance [of a Grand Slam] but maybe Wimbledon or the US Open. Federer, Nadal and Djokovic will be favoured ahead of him but then, in the next group, I’d say he’s one of those knocking on the door.”

But Henman was not predicting the end of the Federer era.

He said: “Three tournaments ago Roger won the Masters playing brilliantly and he’s still number one in the world. I think there are a lot of people who would like to swap places with him right now.”

Apart from Murray, and his brother Jamie, there isn’t much to get excited about in British tennis at the moment, as Henman acknowledged.

He said: “In the professional game Jamie Baker and Alex Bogdanovich are promising prospects but there’s definitely a gap that needs to be filled. I’d look at the 14-16 year olds. There’s a really promising crop of players and a lot of time and effort is being spent working on trying to improve them, so when they start playing professionally they’re ready to go.”

Henman, 33, retired from the professional game after the US Open last September, and is enjoying an easier life.

“If I’d known it was this good I’d have stopped years ago,” he said. “We’ve got a young family so being at home not worrying about training or travelling has been fantastic. I get asked what I’m going to do next but I’m pretty keen not to rush into anything.

“I’ve got a charitable foundation, Kids at Heart, which I set up in 2000 and I’d like to expand that a bit more, because it’s a great way of putting something back into some really worthy causes.”

This year Henman will return to Wimbledon as a spectator for the first time in years. Considering the epic matches he was involved in there, where he reached the semi-finals four times, he doubted he would be emotional.

He said: “No, I’ve had my time. I’ve got fantastic memories. I played a lot of my best tennis out on Centre Court and at Wimbledon so they are fond memories, but they are just memories.”

simon.hayes@wharf.co.uk