Henman struggles through

14 April 2012

Considering that Tim Henman's opponent today had never played on grass before in his life it should have been a straightforward match for the British No1.

But that wasn't the case as Henman was given a shock by Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo on Court One today before finally winning through to the second round 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2.

The Spaniard took the first set with some brilliant return of serves and fierce passing shots.

Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo even took a 5-2 lead in a dramatic second set tiebreak before Henman saved two set points against him before before taking the decider 8-6 to level the sets at 1-1.

British tennis fans are used to an emotional rollercoaster ride with Henman but they were not expecting the 29-year-old to struggle so much against a clay-court specialist making his Wimbledon debut.

Finally Henman managed to take a hold of the match but although he won the next two sets to triumph he was some way short of his best.

Henman has come to Wimbledon feeling in the best form of his life after reaching the semi-finals of the French Open even though his game was not suited to the slow clay courts.

Many experts have been suggesting this year marks Henman's best chance of winning his first Wimbledon title.

On today's early form, however, Henman hasn't got a hope of making history in 2004. His serve-and-volley game - usually his strength - was calamitous and he made numerous unforced errors. Ramirez-Hidalgo started brilliantly, returning Henman's serve with real pace and accuracy.

The Briton was clearly not expecting such a fight and he struggled with his volleying at the net and gradually his usual reliable serve started to look hesitant.

Ramirez-Hidalgo took his first chance to break Henman's serve in the seventh game with a blistering return which Henman could only net. The Spaniard clinched the first set in 35 minutes when Henman hit a fierce passing shot into the net. Henman has only lost once before in the first round at Wimbledon when he was beaten by David Prinosil in his first appearance there in 1994.

With 11 successive appearances at Wimbledon to his name compared to Ramirez-Hidalgo's inexperience, he was expected to bounce back quickly from the early set back.

But he struggled to lift his game at the start of the second set. Ramirez-Hidalgo made another break of serve to go 2-1 up when Henman was unable to return a low volley into the court.

The Spaniard held his service to go 3-3. It was only in the sixth game that the Briton broke back to take the initiative. Even then Henman was generally struggling with his serve, usually such a powerful weapon. When he went to the net, the Briton failed to produce crisp volleys or effective passing shots.

Henman seemed to have the Spaniard in trouble on his own serve after taking a 6-5 lead. But the killer instinct was missing. He struck an approach shot straight into the net and Ramirez-Hidalgo recovered to force the set into a tie-break. Ramirez-Hidalgo led the decider 5-2 and had two set points at 6-4.

But Henman saved one of them and got out of trouble with a powerful serve which the Spaniard could only hit long. At 6-6 Henman hit a brilliant low volley to go 7-6 ahead and clinched the set after the next rally when Ramirez-Hidalgo hit the ball out of court from the baseline.

After winning the next set 6-4, he went on to clinch the match in the fourth set when he won the last five games to take it 6-2.

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