Henman relaxes to conquer Norman quickly
There are frequent occasions when Tim Henman simply puts too much pressure on himself and it may be that the shoulder injury he is carrying, but which appears to be getting no worse, has enabled him to relax a little more and perhaps focus on the basics.
Certainly it appeared that way yesterday when he reached the third round of the US Open with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 victory over the towering Belgian qualifier Dick Norman.
In truth Norman, a 6ft 8in left-hander serves reasonably fiercely and has a huge reach, but he did not present many problems. Like most big men he lacks flexibility, and Henman was quick to exploit the Belgian's limited movement. There were times when Norman simply could not get his racket to the ball, so quick were Henman's reactions coupled with the subtlety of the angles he produced.
Norman, who in 1998 gave up tennis for almost two years, after he became frustrated by his inability to climb into the top 10, has been playing at a much lower level in his efforts to claw his way back. Before this week he had not played in a grand slam since the French Open five years ago. Currently ranked No 134, he certainly presented Henman with more power than his first-round opponent, Tuomas Ketola of Finland, but nothing the Briton could not deal with relatively easily.
Henman is still getting heat treatment on his right shoulder and initially he was, understandably, a touch tentative. There was drizzle in the air and no sooner had the players knocked up then they had to leave the grandstand court. On their return he struggled on his opening service game, needing three deuces before he edged ahead. Over the next four games there were two suspensions as the drizzle temporarily increased and the lines became slippery.
On the second resumption Henman began to dominate, breaking Norman in the eighth game and closing out the first set in 37 minutes of play. He always had the greater variety in the rallies, and used his lob to good effect. This was a level Norman is not used to, and he was frequently left flailing at the net as he vainly attempted to force the pace.
Henman quickly took control of the second set, only to play his first really poor service game and lose the advantage. However it always seemed more likely that Norman would have the greater difficulty holding serve, and in the ninth game Henman pounced again.
There appeared little possibilty that Norman would repeat his first-round dramatics, when he lost the opening two sets against Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic before winning in five. However, Henman did manage to squander a break in the third set before righting the ship. He now plays the Argentinian Juan Ignacio Chela, who lost to the British No1 on clay this year in Monte Carlo.
The heavy rain during the day on Thursday led to a long evening session. Normally only a handful of matches are played at night for television, but all the courts have floodlights so it was possible to play catch-up. And it was during this time that three of the world's top 10, all of them grand slam champions, were beaten.
Spain's Albert Costa, the French Open champion and world No 8, was beaten over five sets by Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, with Costa having won the first two sets. Joining him was Carlos Moya, who was crushed in straight sets by Jan-Michael Gambill. Moya, the 1998 French Open champion, had been in good form, but nothing went right against the American.
Currently any loss against the name of Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov cannot be regarded as a surprise and his 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 defeat by Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia may see him slip out of the world's top 10, where he has been since 1995, since when he has won the French and Australian Opens as well as an Olympic gold in Sydney.
But this year the 28-year-old Russian, who loves golf and the roulette wheel as much as his tennis, has his eye on leading his country to victory in the Davis Cup final, and had indicated that if that happens he may retire. "Not might, I will," he said after his second- round defeat.