Dubai: Former British tennis No 1 Tim Henman has told Gulf News he has no interest in jumping on the bandwagon of ex-players becoming coaches.
One of the biggest talking points of the new tennis season has been world No 2 Novak Djokovic’s decision to recruit six-time Grand Slam winner Boris Becker as his new coach. This was swiftly followed by Swiss ace Roger Federer employing Swedish great Stefan Edberg in the same capacity.
Djokovic and Federer have emulated the example of Henman’s fellow Briton, the current Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, who has been mentored successfully by eight-time Major winner Ivan Lendl since December 2011.
But Henman, who reached six Grand Slam semi-finals during a distinguished 16-year career, said he had no plans to follow the legendary trio.
In an exclusive email interview, Henman said: “It is going to be interesting how the relationships with Becker and Djokovic and Edberg and Federer develop. If you are going to coach at the highest level, there is a lot of travel involved. I travelled from the ages of 16 to 33 and I quite like being at home with the kids. It [coaching] isn’t something that really interests me due to the travel.”
Henman also warned not to expect too much from his fellow countryman Andy Murray at the Australian Open following the Scot’s recent return to action after back surgery. “I think we have to be patient with Andy Murray coming off the back of surgery,” added the 39-year-old, who won 11 ATP Tour titles during his career. “It may take extra time but, once he is healthy, he can win any time he wants. For me, Nadal or Djokovic are the two best players in the world right now. It is for the others to try and reach the standards they are setting. Both are fit, healthy and seemingly in their prime.”
Henman also expressed his excitement about helping roll out an initiative called Road to Wimbledon to India.
The Englishman has been in Delhi and Mumbai this month promoting the scheme, which aims to boost the development of junior tennis in the country through coaching clinics. Youngsters who triumph in the events get the chance to play at Wimbledon in August.
Henman, who is in the UAE this week in a tennis coaching role at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, said: “The Road to Wimbledon is a great initiative we have been running since 2002 and it is hugely exciting to expand it into India — it feels like a real breakthrough. I’m very excited about being back in India. It is 20 years since I made a huge breakthrough on the Indian satellite circuit and I have been a part of The Road to Wimbledon since it started in 2002. So, to have the opportunity of expanding into India is going to be great fun and hopefully the young players will be excited about the opportunity of maybe playing at Wimbledon.”
