Tim Henman will not play in the ATP Masters Series event in Hamburg next week.

Instead, the British number two will concentrate his efforts on getting ready for the French Open, which gets underway on Sunday May 27 in Paris.

Hamburg is a strange tournament, explained Henman.

On the one hand its always nice to get a few matches under your belt before the Grand Slams - and I could certainly do with a few of those.

But on the other hand the conditions there can be so different to those in Paris that it doesnt necessarily help.

It can be so cold and damp there, and that means the courts play really slowly.

And often the matches are played in the wind and the rain, which often makes my back stiffen up.

So this year Im just going to concentrate on working hard on court and in the gym here in London before heading off to Paris nice and early.

I always look forward to playing there and I have some fond memories of most of my previous visits.

Obviously, my stand out year was 2004 when I got to the semi-finals but Ive played well there a few times.

I remember I had a good match with Canas in 2001 and a tough one with Ferrero a couple of years after that when he was pretty much the man to beat on clay, so generally speaking Ive enjoyed my time there.

Plus, I have some nice memories of Paris from winning in Bercy so Im looking forward to getting out there again this year.



http://www.timhenman.org/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=427055&itype=&iCategoryID=0





Interesting explanation from Tim.....