Carpet is skiddy and quick. Concrete is (obviously) bouncy. Carpet would favour Henman becuase it's more like grass - the serves are harder to retrieve and quicker, therefore making approaching the net easier.

As the Thailand Open isn't carpet (unles it has changed dramatically from last year when Andy made the final!) I'd say that he's favourite. Henman will, however, benefit from being fresher and not having to adjust quickly to a surface change.

I can't believe that Andy and Tim are playing each other AGAIN !!! Has there been some conspiracy between Tim's enemies on the tour to give him Federer and Murray as many times as possible in the early rounds of tournaments to get him to retire !

I reckon that Henman may actually win this one, it'll be hard for Andy to adjust to such a quicker surface, especially if the match is on Tuesday when jetlag may still be a factor for Andy. He adjusted well last year but benefitted from having an easy rd1 match against Bastl giving him an extra couple of days to get used to the courts for his rd2 match with Soderling.

Tim will have been in Bangkok since last week which gives him a big advantage. Bangkok is indoor acrylic, higher bouncing than Basel but still pretty fast. From what I've seen in the DC tie, Andy's getting into the net a lot, lot more than last autumn which will help him a lot. The key is for Tim to serve well and pressurize Andy as much as possible. In the first two sets of their match in Basel and in Toronto, Tim had a bit too much respect for Andy's returns and passing shots and stayed back a lot and with that game plan there's only going to be one winner as Andy's simply going to outdo Tim for consistency, he can hit his heavy topspin groundstrokes all day long while Tim's are a lot flatter and therefore they're lower percentage shots. In Cincinatti, Tim began to work out a better way of playing Andy, he got in a lot more and on Andy's fav surface - outdoor hard, it was very, very close. In Basel last year, Tim only started to have any sort of success when he came in on absolutely everything. With the way the ball skids onto the racket indoors and the quality of Tim's net coverage it's tough to hit passes again and again especially when you've been playing baseline tennis on clay.

The key for Andy is to have a high 1st serve percentage even if it means maybe taking some of the pace off. This is because Tim will chip-charge every 2nd serve if he has the right game plan. I hope that Andy cuts all the dropshots out.

My prediction: If Tim stays at the baseline for most of the match: Andy in 3

If Tim attacks right from the start: Tim in 3 [I hope I'm wrong though ! Sorry, Tim but Andy's got a ton of points to defend from here].

Michael wrote:

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yesyesbadboy wrote:

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i got wind of the draw-EXCLUSIVE-

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Don't make me laugh. I posted the draw 4 hours before you. Murray to win, just!

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DONT MAKE ME laugh, dosent sound funny to me, lool i think you are confusedlool

 

NOT EXCLUSIVE IN THAT I POSTED IT ON HERE QUICKLY, BUT MY FREIND IS IN BANGKOK AND SAID HE WAS PRESENT AT THE DRAW OR TENNIS CENTER SO THATS WHY I SAID EXCLUSIVE, DOSENT MATTER ANYWAY

yesyesbadboy, what does lool mean?

I know what lol is. I just wondered what an extra 'o' was doing in there!