Don’t get carried away, our tennis needs to improve, says Henman
WITH both Johanna Konta and Andy Murray in with a chance of being crowned Wimbledon champions next week, most British tennis fans would argue there is cause to celebrate.
But Tim Henman has warned not to get carried away with the success, saying the standards in British tennis “are not good enough”, despite two of the country’s top players progressing to Wimbledon’s second week.
Earlier in the week Murray, Konta, Heather Watson and Aljaz Bedene set a 21st-century record for the most British players in the third round at SW19 – the last time four players made it that far was in 1997.
But Henman, a four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist, said: “All things are relative. By our standards it has been good, but our standards are not good enough. It’s exciting that Jo is through to the second week but when you look at the depth in the game, both men’s and women’s, it needs to improve. We’ve got great role models in Andy and Jo and hopefully they can inspire more in the future.”
Henman, who is also commentating for the BBC during the tournament, made the comments after playing tennis with youngsters from the Wimble- don Junior Tennis Initiative. Around 300 local schoolchildren a year attend free tennis coaching sessions at the All England Club at weekends as part of the scheme.
Henman said he was not worried about the pressure Konta now faces as the last woman standing.
He said: “That’s irrelevant. You’ve always got to concentrate on the things that you can control and that’s your preparation and performance.”
The 26-year-old beat Greece’s Maria Sakkari in straight sets 6-4 6-1 on Friday.
Murray had a tougher time rounding off his third round match – he eventually took it over the Italian Fabio Fognini 6-2 4-6 6-1 7-5 in a nail-biting and gripping Centre Court finale.
Henman said he would be surprised if anyone from outside the top four lifts the Wimbledon trophy for the men.
But he added: “On the women’s it’s very exciting because there are so many people that fancy their chances.”