 Photographer: Tommy Hindley
Date: 21 Sep 2007 |  Photographer: Tommy Hindley
Date: 21 Sep 2007 |  Photographer: Tommy Hindley
Date: 21 Sep 2007 |  Photographer: Tommy Hindley
Date: 21 Sep 2007 |  Photographer: Tommy Hindley
Date: 21 Sep 2007 |  Photographer: Tommy Hindley
Date: 21 Sep 2007 |
|
| 22 Sep 2007 - All England Lawn Tennis Club, London, GB - Eleanor Preston - GBR v CRO | |
| Henman's last hurrah begins successfully |
Great Britain leads Croatia 2-0 and is poised to return to the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group after an emotional day at Wimbledon. In what could be his last ever competitive singles match, Tim Henman defeated Croatian substitute Roko Karanusic 64 64 63 in Friday’s second rubber, following up on British No. 1 Andy Murray’s five-set win over Marin Cilic earlier in the day.
Karanusic was given his chance to play after the latest in a string of unlucky injury blows struck the Croatian team. Having already lost Mario Ancic to a shoulder injury, Croatia’s captain Goran Prpic then had to reshuffle his pack on Friday morning when his No. 1 player Ivan Ljubicic fell ill. Ljubicic was taken to hospital, where doctors found two kidney stones during a scan and he will therefore play no further part in the tie.
Mental and emotional battle for Henman
Henman will retire from professional tennis after this tie and admitted that knowing that he was playing potentially his last match at his beloved Wimbledon, combined with the late withdrawal of Ljubicic, made beating Karanusic a mental and emotional battle. “I’ve been preparing mentally for this match for a long time and I thought I would be playing Ivan in the last match, then suddenly months of preparation changed in a couple of hours,” said Henman, who kissed the No. 1 Court turf after sealing the win. “I hope Ivan is doing well. He’s gone to the hospital for tests. I hope he’s back soon because that’s more important than all of this.”
Henman was greeted with a noisy and prolonged chorus of cheers when he walked on court with Karanusic but it was nothing to the cacophony of noise which sounded his victory. He received a sustained standing ovation from the 11,000-seater No. 1 Court and struggled to remain composed, especially because his usually stoic father Tony collapsed into tears and his wife Lucy was clearly emotional. Only the eldest of the Henmans’ three daughters Rosie seemed oblivious to the significance of her father’s big moment - though she did wave and blow kisses to her dad as he took in the applause.
“It’s been a big week for the family because we had another baby only seven days ago. My wife’s pretty tired but it’s great to have everyone here,” said Henman. “My family has been there through all the nervous moments and all the tight matches and it’s easy to take that kind of support for granted but it’s very much appreciated.”
Tim’s retirement spelt pressure for Murray
Murray survived a nervy five-set marathon against 18-year-old Marin Cilic to give Great Britain a 1-0 lead earlier in the day and afterwards admitted that the circumstances of Henman’s impending retirement had piled the pressure on his shoulders. “It was really emotional,” said Murray. “I’d been playing really well in practice beforehand but it’s amazing how different you feel when you go on to the match court with 11,000 people and the TV cameras and the whole situation that you are in with it being Tim’s last match, just wanting to play well and make sure that we win the tie. It was difficult but I was happy to get through it.”
“They both did incredibly well,” said Great Britain’s captain John Lloyd. “To be honest I would have been confident of being 2-0 up even if Ljubicic had played because they’ve both been playing well in practice but I’m very happy with this.”
Henman may come in to Saturday’s doubles alongside doubles specialist Jamie Murray and said he would be happy to say goodbye to the Wimbledon crowd one more time. “It’s about getting the job done,” said Henman.
Related Links on other websites
> Information from LTA
> Information from Croatian Tennis Association
Related Links on Daviscup.com
> Tie Information
> Scorecards and stats from this tie
> Murray wins five-set thriller to put GB in front
> Murray starts Great Britain's Wimbledon challenge
|
Español
