Henman hits new peak at Wimbledon
It will be small consolation to Tim Henman, beaten in the Wimbledon semi-finals by Lleyton Hewitt, but yesterday he achieved his highest ever world ranking of No4 and seems virtually certain to qualify for the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai this year. Henman last played in the event, limited to the world's top eight players, four years ago in Hannover, where he reached the semi-finals.
All the leading players will take a short break after Wimbledon and then start their preparations for the US Open, which begins in New York at the end of next month. Unlike Wimbledon, where several of the leading clay-court players were absent, including the three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten, everybody, save the chronically injured, will be at Flushing Meadows.
But the clay-court specialists' fear of grass may have altered substantially after this year's tournament, in which baseliners were dominant and protracted rallies, of the sort seen all year round on hard courts and clay, were much in evidence.
The use of rye grass, which helps bind the courts, has slowed them down a little, while the size of the ball (not the weight) has been increased a shade, but more obviously the style of tennis has been changing over the past two or three years, with the majority of players looking to hit winners from the back of the court.
The development of racket technology, making them lighter and more powerful, has encouraged this trend and there is no doubt that Wimbledon has benefited. There was a danger that the serve would become totally dominant during the early and mid-90s but the returners have caught up. It is a constant tug of war but the new direction certainly gave the British public better value for money, as well as a greater understanding of how the game is played for the majority of the year.
It will not be long, given the nature of the sport, before coaches start to develop strategies that encourage a move back towards the net, but for the time being the serve-volleyers are almost a lost breed, both in the men's and women's games.
Hewitt, who said yesterday that if he did not win another grand-slam title he would be satisfied having won the US Open and Wimbledon, is the leader of tennis's new order. Of the top 10 only Henman could be described as a serve-volleyer and he has been adapting his game to play more from the baseline. Indeed once Pat Rafter went into semi-retirement the last of the true serve-volleyers - those that go to the net even on their second serve - had gone.
So next year could see more of the leading Spaniards, as well as Kuerten, returning to Wimbledon. David Nalbandian's surprise appearance in the final may just be the start of a trend. And then how long before the cries go up to make the grass courts quicker again?