Tiger's change of strategy
ByReuters
Published 11/06/2005 at 06:42 GMT
British number one Tim Henman promised to overhaul his grasscourt tactics after his quarter-final defeat by Swede Thomas Johansson at the Queen's club. Follow the Queen's Club semi-finals LIVE on eurosport.com from 14:30cet!
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Third seed Henman was beaten 6-4 6-4 by the Swede on Friday after being out-thought and said afterwards that he had lost because of his rigid adherence to a serve-volley game against one of tennis's best returners.
"I was disappointed with my performance, I never gave myself the opportunity to put pressure on him," said the 30-year-old, who has reached the semi-finals of the Wimbledon grasscourt grand slam four times.
"I do think there was a valuable lesson today. I haven't done a very good job of being as decisive with a game plan on grass as I have on other surfaces.
"I need to be a little bit more selective. I was forcing my serve and that has a knock-on effect.
"That's something I'll take on board and make damn sure that I do a better job of it at Wimbledon.
"It (serve-volleying) is a mindset that's probably been ingrained about grasscourt tennis having watched it and played it so long.
"I have options to my game and if I'm honest I don't use them as well on grass as on other surfaces."
The Wimbledon grasscourt grand slam starts on June 20 and Henman will once again shoulder British hopes of a first homegrown men's champion since 1936.
Last year he reached the semi-finals of both the French and U.S. Opens, played on clay and hardcourt respectively.
"If I can do it (adapt) on a clay court as I have then it should be a lot easier to do it on this surface," he concluded.
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