CAPTAIN MARVEL
Henman backs GB to thrive without Andy in new rival to Davis Cup
Tim Henman got an abrupt introduction to the joys of team management and coaching immediately after touching down in Sydney.
no sooner was he off his 24-hour flight than he was dealing with the withdrawal of andy murray from the British team he is captaining at the inaugural aTP Cup. a quick scramble and GB veteran James Ward was recruited as replacement.
On his first outing in such a job, Henman is one of the interesting features in the new — somewhat controversial — £12million team event that begins on Friday.
The fact murray decided late on against travelling, apparently due to pelvic bruising that has failed to clear sufficiently, did not come as a total surprise.
Henman said: ‘i had been in contact with him during December so i knew it was going to be difficult for him to be ready in time. We will miss him but after what he has been through, the last thing he should do is rush.’
The six- times Grand Slam semi-finalist is close to murray and was effectively appointed as captain by the 32-year-old Scot.
One aspect of this competition is that the coach is chosen by the respective country’s top player. it is keen to distinguish itself from the Davis Cup, which took place only six weeks ago.
it will be intriguing to see how much Henman can get from Britain’s highest-ranked player, Dan evans. Their two playing methods, relying more on skill and touch than sheer power, have been compared, so they should speak a very similar tennis lingo.
evans was last year’s redemption story, coming back from a cocaine ban to enter the world’s top 40.
With a new-found professionalism, he confounded those who feared he may have wasted his considerable natural talent, Henman among them.
‘i thought he had thrown it all away. The decision he made was appalling but he served his time,’ said Henman, 45.
‘What is brilliant is how well he responded. i spent three or four days with him at Delray Beach where he qualified and made the final. To come back from a very difficult and challenging time to then be top 50 at the end of the year is a great achievement.
‘He is a good person. He has made one or two bad decisions and hopefully with maturity he can build on that next year because i still think there are several areas in his game where he can do better.’
Having accepted the captaincy, Henman hopes to steer GB through their four-team group into the quarter- finals of an event set up by the aTP Tour and Tennis australia as a rival to the Davis Cup.
There appears, on the face of it, little logic to the new event’s establishment. it is has not come in response to any fan demand
BRITISH No 1 Jo Konta has recovered sufficiently from lingering knee issues and has flown to Australia on schedule for the start of the season. Konta will play WTA events in Brisbane and Adelaide ahead of the Australian Open.
and tennis already has a blockbuster start to its season with the australian Open in the second half of the month.
That Grand Slam is now at least the equal of the other three and is what most players are preoccupied with.
Other existing aTP events will be overshadowed, while the mixed team event, the Hopman Cup in Perth, has been ditched despite its popularity.
The women are upset that they have not been included in this new start to the season, while some of the men from stronger nations are not happy, either, as they have been overlooked.
The captains do not pick the squad because they are based purely on rankings from two months ago. That means, for instance, Kyle edmund could not be considered, although he was GB’s top performer six weeks ago in madrid.
One reason for the strictures is that ranking points are up for grabs — unlike in the Davis Cup. The resulting selection criteria, however, have slightly undermined the event’s credibility.