Tim ready for mental battle

14 April 2012

Tim Henman, mystery virus permitting, could take another step towards his best French Open showing today when he faces Germany's Lars Burgsmuller in the second round.

Ninth-seed Henman has never got beyond the third round but, thanks to the defeats of sixth-seed Andre Agassi and Mark Philippoussis, the No18 seed, from his section of the draw, making the second week of this clay court marathon is a real possibility.

Before that, however, Henman's suspect energy levels have to hold up under the pressure and he took comfort from the nearly four hours he lasted to overcome Cyril Saulnier, of France, in five sets on Monday.

Henman has been attempting to discover the cause of the illness but not even a blood test could reveal the cause of his problems, which started in Hamburg.

He is being realistic, knowing that flogging himself too hard on the unforgiving clay could undermine his bid for glory on grass at the Stella Artois championships and Wimbledon.

He said: "If in my next match I'm not feeling my best that's fine. I'll accept it and play with the cards you're dealt. I'll do as best I can. Perhaps I can start to feel a bit better in the next couple of days and who knows what might happen. But there's no point in penalising myself with a poor mental performance."

A fully-fit Henman should have few problems against the 28-yearold Burgsmuller, whose world ranking of 91 is 82 places below the British No1.

The pair have played twice before, with one win apiece. Burgsmuller, who reached the third round at Roland Garros in 2001, won their only encounter on clay.

While Henman has another appearance at Wimbledon firmly on his schedule, Martina Navratilova is going to play in Eastbourne in an effort to convince herself and the All England Club that another singles outings for the nine-times champion would be worth a wildcard entry.

This is her final year of competition but she denies trying to compile a farewell tour of favourite singles events. Eastbourne have yet to confirm her entry into the main singles draw and the 47-yearold is prepared to take part in the qualifying rounds just to get her feet back on to grass in a singles match.

Her place in Grand Slam doubles and mixed doubles events is not in question - only her ability to compete alone on court.

Navratilova, who lost 6-1, 6-3 to Gisela Dulko this week, is understandably bullish about her reasonsfor playing and believes she could not only be competitive but make a comfortable living from singles.

She said: "I thought I was one of the top 128 players in the world and so why not?

"I earned my way into this event with a wildcard and if I didn't think I was one of the best 128 players I wouldn't have asked for it."

MORE ABOUT

Andre Agassi

Tim ready for mental battle

Read More