Henman reveals his thoughts about the British No.1 at the London Evening Standard
UK Tennis 17 Feb 2014 - 22:27 / by Ivan Pasquariello / reads 554.Source: London Evening Standard
In an interview appeared today in the London Evening Standard, former World No.4 Tim Henman talked about Andy Murray and his comeback to professional tennis after the back injury. Here is what Tim had to say:
Tim, you know Andy very well, did you have any doubts that it was going to take him such a short time to comeback to the circuit after the operation?
I liked what I have seen from him in Australia. The signals are positive. Even Andy himself is happy with his current condition and I am sure that his preparation towards Wimbledon is going to be optimal. It is important that he enjoys his chance of defending the title without pressure. The Championships are far away though, many things could have changed by then.
Do you think some people indeed understood Andy's joke about his upcoming marriage that he made on Twitter?
Andy is trying to let people know that he has a good sense of humor, but then there are this sort of misunderstandings which are quite annoying. When I was on the tour we didn't have all these kinds of social networks, like Facebook or Twitter. So now just a phrase like the one Andy said about his marriage goes all around the World in just few seconds.
Does he really need to show his 'funny' side?
No, it doesn't matter. I remember few years ago in Wimbledon when we were teasing each other about England and Scotland, and I made some funny comments about soccer, cricket and rugby in Scotland, which let him with a chance of saying the now famous phrase 'at the World Cup I will cheer for all the teams that will compete against England'. The bad thing is that it seems like the media are interested and willing to know Andy's different and funny side, but then even harmless words like those ones bring a lot of controversy, which happens to be distracting for Andy. That's why it shouldn't surprise the fact that he doesn't like to talk in public too much. That said, he is now more experienced about it, he can handle it much better as he knows how it works.
When Stanislas Wawrinka won his first Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne what were your thoughts? Did you see it as a positive new or just as a stumble in this 'golden era' dominated by the usual names?
It was a great performance and an incredible result for Stan. He was the best player of the tournament. I see it positively, as all the previous Slam tournaments have always been dominated by the Fabulous Four. Stan's result shows how there is not just the four of them, because he has the skills to be a star player.
There has been plenty of discussion about the heat at the recent Australian Open and the injuries related to that. Is it something that worries you?
To see how at the beginning of the year there were already so many injured players starting the season, it tells you how tough this sport is and the kind of effort that the calendar requires. There is really no off-season and that is the main issue and one of the main sources of the problem. You can't play every week. You need at least 15 days without playing to fully recover. If you look at Roger Federer's Grand Slam record you can see how well he has manged this issue.
Thinking how long it needed for Rafael Nadal to fully recover from his knee injury, how long do you think it will take him to get over the back injury he had in Australia?
Rafa really had to go through a lot for his knee injury, partly caused by his costly stile of playing. The back injury though is different. It's something that has never occurred to him, and it could have happened to anybody else. Even I had a lot of problems related to my back throughout my career, and I dealt with it having to change few times my movement at the service, or requiring surgery. Nowadays to well manage your body is becoming vital, thus I am happy to see that Andy is recovering well from his injury.
You are currently working with the Jaguar Academy of Sport to teach young people the skills needed to become professional athletes. Can you tell us something about that?
The academy was inaugurated in 2012. It is common for former professional sports players to feel the need to hand down something about your experience to younger generations. Sports have changed a lot over the last 15 years, especially on the mental preparation, thus this program is constantly evolving. You can learn more about your sport even taking from different sports. Andy Murray, for example, is a great fan of boxing. When I was at the David Lloyd Academy and I was about 16/17, I had a chance to train with Stefan Edberg. That has obviously helped me a lot.
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