TIM Henman sits in an upstairs room in the Gleneagles Arena and recalls the time he vanquished Roger Federer at Wimbledon. “Yeah, it’s great to have that on my CV,” says Henman, “but he was only 11 at the time.”
Henman, as usual, is being modest. The gap between the two men is only seven years - Federer was just shy of his 20th birthday - and that four-set win was in the 2001 quarter-finals, just one round after the Swiss had dumped reigning champion Pete Sampras out of the competition. It was the year of Henman’s nearest miss, as he went down to Goran Ivanisevic in an epic, rain-affected five-set semi-final.
But while the Englishman sits on the sidelines at this weekend’s Brodies Tennis Invitational cursing the decay of the flesh and nursing an injured elbow - he proudly shows pictures of a lump of calcified tissue which he had surgically removed weeks ago, meaning golf as well as tennis is off limits - 2017 finds the 35-year-old Federer still lording it over the best the sport has to offer. Not only that, but when you count a resurgent Rafa Nadal, Henman knows that Andy Murray will have to slay two sporting supermen if he is to complete a hat-trick of Wimbledon title wins this summer. And this analysis doesn’t even consider Novak Djokovic.
The 30-year-old from Dunblane goes in at SW19 as both World No 1 and defending champion, but he has found himself upstaged thus far during 2017 by two of the sport’s golden oldies. Federer’s record 18th Grand Slam at Melbourne Park back in January was followed by Nadal holding all before him to claim La Decima, and as far as Henman is concerned the only surprise any more is that anyone is surprised about the achievements of these supreme athletes.
“I’ve given up being surprised by Rafa and Roger,” said Henman. “Because, if you’re surprised, you’re naïve. They’re not normal. They are just such incredible sportsmen that they defy logic.
“What Federer did is amazing,” added the Englishman. “To have six months off and then come back like that, playing the way he did in Melbourne, then back it up in Indian Wells and Miami, it’s remarkable. Then Rafa took over on the clay. And it’s incredible to watch. People like us, we try to make rules on what you should do when you get past 30 – but these guys are different animals.”
Henman believes this backdrop makes this year’s Wimbledon the most fascinating in recent memory as Murray and Novak Djokovic - now working with Andre Agassi - look to reclaim their ascendancy from the thirtysomethings who top 2017’s table of ranking points. “Before, it was Federer and Nadal with Murray and Djokovic trying to catch up,” said Henman. “Then it flipped and we had Murray and Djokovic at the top. Now? You could make a pretty good argument for any of them. That’s what makes it fascinating to watch, especially when you add another variable like playing on grass.”
Given the longevity of the ‘fab four’ of men’s tennis, fortunes don’t half change quickly. This time last year, after all, Djokovic was World No 1 and in possession of all four major titles. Each seems to take a turn of dominance, only to pay a penalty for it. “If we were having this conversation 12 months ago we would be talking in the context of Djokovic possibly being the best player of all time,” said Henman. “He had just won four in a row, he was number one by a long way and had 12 Slams. Now he is down to four in the world and hasn’t won a Slam since. I think Andy will have another three or four years, for sure. It was good to see him play the way he did in Paris, having come in with no form, not being well the week before, yet still finding a way to go far in the tournament.”
If Federer slipping up to Tommy Haas in Stuttgart was another twist, more evidence will appear in the next week at Queen’s Club, a venue where Murray’s five singles titles has never been bettered. “It is the ideal way to prepare for Wimbledon ... although I don’t think results will have any bearing. Of course you would rather do well but I lost in the first round at Queens and made the semis at Wimbledon. It is a great tournament in its own right and the grass courts are as good as anywhere.” The next item on Henman’s resume is the All England Club’s wild card committee on Tuesday. British pickings are slim on the men’s side beyond mainstays like Kyle Edmund, an injured Dan Evans and Aljaz Bedene. “It’s sad that we can’t really give them away,” he says, although at least a thigh injury to Maria Sharapova means he won’t have be at the centre of a global media storm.
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