Chela holds to 15 to lead 3-2

15-0: Tim puts a fh wide

15-15: Tim draws Chela in with short bh, Chela plays dropshot and Tim is there to flick it past him

30-15: backhand pass from Chela

40-15: Same as pt 2 but Tim puts a bh wide

Game:

3-3

Sadly I think Chela looks set to win this

Tim not happy about something, arguing with the line judge before the game starts

0-15: double fault

15-15: Chela looks to be on top in the rally but luckily puts a slice long

15-30: double fault

30-30: Big serve down the T, good deep return from C, Tim hits a huge forehand dtl and follows with a convincing smash

30-40: good serve out wide, s-vs but doesn't do enough with 2nd shot and Chela whips a pass cross-court

deuce: big serve out wide

Ad Chela: Chela controls the pt with some huge forehands, not going for the lines but just very deep, Tim defends well but eventually goes long

Game: deep approach from Tim, and Chela is very lucky as a mis hit lob turns out to be a winner

4-6, 6-3, 3-5

Chela serving:

0-15

15-15: return long, Henman isn't happy with the call on the serve but Hawkeye shows it is good

30-15: Chela really attacks the Henman backhand, comes in on a bh slice and Tim's pass attempt is wide

40-15: forehand return into net

Game, set, match: again looks to chip-charge but sends the bh chip long

Chela wins 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

Laughable claims from the Sky Sports crew about how unlucky Henman was.

The fact is, serving at *3-4, he served two double faults. Could somebody help me out and explain why that is unlucky???

Then when Chela was serving for the match Tim failed to put returns back in play on two tame second serves. Why is that unlucky??

OK, so at times he played not bad, but when it mattered at the business end of the 3rd set, Tim was far from up to the job.

Anyone care to disagree?

johnnylad wrote:

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Don't know why but I saw that coming. I don't think TIm has it anymore...

He's lost 6-3 in the third

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Personally I think that Tim still "has it" having watched the match. Some great serving and forehands, he still covers the court and constructs the points as well as ever. As ever, the chip-charge returns let him down at times but that's always been the case when he's not right at his best.

He's just not finding his best at the crucial times in the match, and that's lack of sharpness due to the few wins he's had this year.As many others have said on here, he needs to step down a level and get some wins in the lesser ATPs and maybe even some strong challengers to get that sharpness back. If he harbours any hopes of returning to the top 32 (and I think he still has the game to do so), that's what he's gonna have to do.

I'd like him to play Bejing, Bangkok and Tokyo after the USO....then the tourneys in Vienna and Basel which he's won in the past. He won't make the cuts for Madrid and Paris so why not play Madrid qualies or end the year with the two super-challengers in Bratislava and Ukraine. It's a heavy end of year schedule but he's only played twice since June and been past rd1 just the once since February so over-doing things with the back can't be an issue !