WASHINGTON - Tim Henman is under no pressure to succeed at this week's Washington Classic -- which may explain why he is doing just that.
Miles from home, and shielded from the often unforgiving glare of the British media, the 28-year-old upset the red-hot American Andy Roddick 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 Saturday to secure a spot in the final -- his first for more than a year.
The secret, he said, was that he was able to relax.
"It's part of coming over to the States," he told reporters after his semi-final win. "I am certainly able to go about my business with a little less attention." Henman has had a lackluster season. Shoulder surgery last November forced him to withdraw from the Australian Open and he returned to the circuit with a first-round defeat at Rotterdam.
The top-ranked Briton could only manage to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, defeated by France's Sebastian Grosjean to the disappointment of an expectant nation.
He has gone up to the semi-finals of Wimbledom four times. He has entered tournament finals countless times but have only won 9 so far in his career.
One time he had a run of seven consecutive finals appearance but lost all championship matches. Always, something comes up just when it seems he is winning. They are not strange occurances but the frequency of it is what makes it weird. It has sort of become a phenomenon.
The British people widely remembers his Wimbledon 2001 semi-final match against Goran Ivanisevic that lasted 3 days due to rain delays. Just when Henman takes complete control of the match and ready to finish the big Croatian off, rain pours down giving Ivanisevic a new lease of life. The Croatian went on to win Wimbledon beating Patrick Rafter in the finals.
EXTRA PRESSURE
He credits his success this week, defeating Paradorn Srichaphan 7-6, 7-5 in the quarter-finals and crowd favorite Roddick in the semis, to a new approach to the game.
"To a certain extent my focus hasn't been on winning. It's been much more on my performance and what I am trying to do to improve as a player," Henman said.
"There have been times when I have concentrated too much on winning and that just puts extra pressure on yourself. It is sort of a negative spiral," he said.
"But this match, this week, I have been working hard on my serve, trying to be aggressive.
"I think I have been moving better and better and when you do those things, then that's going to be the ingredients of me playing well and hopefully me winning matches."
Henman has not lifted a singles trophy since January 2002 in Adelaide. If he wins Sunday's final, it will be his 10th career title.
The Briton said he was ready.
"I'm going to just worry about my own game, and go out there and continue to play the way I have been playing, and have fun.
"That's certainly what I did today. Hopefully it can be a similar result," he said.
Henman will face fourth seed Fernando Gonzalez after the Chilean scored a surprise 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 semifinal win over world no. 1 Andre Agassi.
-- August 2, 2003