Henman looks for Miami boost

Count Zero · Tennis legend

Henman looks for Miami boost

Sheddie · administrator

Good job that you didn't have to type in those picks !

Do people realise that Canas has a 5-1 winning record against Tim ??

Tim last beat Canas back in 1998...3-6, 7-6, 6-2 in Montreal.

Since then, Canas has won 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 in rd1 of USO 1999.

He also won 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in rd3 of Roland Garros 2001 (I remember this one well

Listened to it live on the radio, was torture...Tim was a break up in the 5th but lost it).

He had a shock 3-6, 7-6, 7-6 win in rd2 of ATP Vienna later in 2001, big surprise as Tim's won that tourney twice (I think) in the past.

He won again 6-7, 5-7, 7-6, 7-5, 9-7 in rd3 of the 2004 AO and 7-6, 7-5 in the quarters of Indian Wells 2005.

Then if he gets through he plays the on-form Ferrero who's made the semis of ATP Acapulco recently plus rd4 of IW last week before getting mullered by Nadal

RobC · All-time great

Canas in 2

- he's probably on better form than anyone else below Youzhny

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Tim in 2! He'll net rush Canas and freak him out!

Sheddie · administrator

Unfortunately Canas has some of the best passing shots in the men's game

In Melbourne 2004, Tim hit over 100 clean winners from the back and still didn't win. However, he did have his chances....break up twice in the final set, served for the match once and also had 0-30 on the Canas serve at 7-7.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

cor dear sheddy, u are a bit negative today.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

It is not good enough, all these people trying to wrest my title of board pessimist from me!

I have to agree, though. I don't expect a win for Tim here, I'm afraid. Can't beat Hernych = not going to beat Canas. Not on a slow hard court.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

i thought miami was faster? tim had a bit more practice since hernych too.

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Not sure how it will play this year but in the past Miami has been by far the slowest of the hardcourt Masters events. Typically you will see clay court players doing a lot better in Miami than at any of the other non-clay Masters. The wind usually plays a big part too.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

doh, wish i had known that b4 i enter the picks comp - shedman i am sure you told me it was faster and sunriee was faster hard court the same.

steven · Tennis legend

Sheddie wrote:
Do people realise that Canas has a 5-1 winning record against Tim ??

Yes, shocking isn't it. If you were checking the H2Hs, I wonder if you noticed like I did that there are an amazing number of potential matches in Miami where the lower-ranked player is ahead in the head-to-head. I found a lot of them very hard to pick, especially in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. In those cases, I was tending to go for the lower-ranked player if the rankings were close, the higher-ranked player otherwise, with a few exceptions.

Some other interesting stats - while the IW winner tends to do well in Florida, just 1 of last 10 Indian Wells runners up has survived to the QFs the following fortnight (sorry Nole!) and for IW semi-finalists, it's nearly as bad - just 4 of them have reached the QFs or beyond in Florida in the last 10 years - that's just 20%. (sorry Andy!)

steven · Tennis legend

Count Zero wrote:

doh, wish i had known that b4 i enter the picks comp - shedman i am sure you told me it was faster and sunriee was faster hard court the same.

I'd heard that it was faster too, so I was expecting fast servers to do better than at IW. Did it just mean faster than Miami normally is (i.e. it's normally really slow)

Oh well, that's a lot of points I see slipping away

johnnylad · Tennis legend

In Tim's defense many of those losses have been very close, and his experience should help him in the tight moments now!

Ghosting · Lower Club Player

Has Henman really fulfilled his potential?

It can be pretty difficult question. I think so. Why? He has always gone out on court to play his best tennis. You know, his attitude, determination, commitment,... it can't be better. Do you think you can get into the top ten without finding your best? Of course, NOT!!! You can love him or hate him, but everybody must see that this guy is very very sucessfull at this game. In January I got an interesting mail from Sergio Cruz (former No. 1 Portugese player and former coach of Jim Courier) about The ugly truth about tennis.

Then I asked him about Tim and he said: "Would you agree that you can not turn a donkey into a pure bred race horse? Well, Tim is a pure bred race horse that is why he achieved what he did. You see, hard work and no matter how many patterns the guy will find for himself or how strong he is mentally, amounts to nothing if he is a "donkey" (figure of speach!). Believe me champions are born not made. Only the ones with the right genetics can reap the fruits of "work". All the rest just work! Anyone who have made it into the top 100 is a champion."

Sheddie · administrator

Re Canas match: I don't think I'm being negative, just realistic. Canas just unfortunately has a game which matches up very well against Henman. He's extremely consistent, can stay out there all day long and hardly misses, he returns very well, is a really good mover and has some of the best passing shots in the game - he loves a target which makes things difficult for Tim.

In order to have a chance on hard courts, Tim has to be at his very best, really going for his shots and hitting lots of big forehands from the back which he can then follow into the net. However, even when he did that and hits 100 winners...he still lost in 2004 ! Add this all to the fact that atm he's nowhere near his best and Canas beat Fed last week, I don't really rate his chances...if he plays like he did against Hernych he'll lose 2 and 2