India need stars in singles: Henman

Tim Henman — England’s brightest hope on grass before Andy Murray — never won a Grand Slam but stands out among his peers. Henman is one of a few English athletes, after Roger Taylor, who preferred the racquet to a cricket bat or a football.

The former Great Britain no. 1 and world no. 4, who reached six Grand Slam semi-finals and won 15 ATP titles, is now in India to scout talent and boost junior players under the campaign ‘Road To Wimbledon’.

In between tennis clinics, Henman spent few minutes with this correspondent. Excerpts:

On infrastructure in India, now and earlier: I first came to India in 1994 where I won a satellite tournament. Those days, facilities were basic. There have been investments and it is better. India is a big country and to make the sport accessible, you need courts in every area. On IPTL and India: If you have the best players in the world coming to play in your country, it can only be a good thing. It drew attention and brought more spectators. Road To Wimbledon is trying to get more and more young kids to take up the sport.

On the Sania Mirza-Martina Hingis run (36 matches): I have not seen their matches but I did follow the results. But what I would like to see in Indian tennis is a superstar in singles. Singles is where the best of the best in the world play. If India have a top 10 player in singles, it will be good for the entire tennis world. On match-fixing in tennis: There is a lot of speculation. They have gone back 10 years looking at things. We need an investigation to understand if anything is going, if there has, it is a crime in any form. It is important for the young players to understand the dangers so they never get involved in it. It is terrible for any sport. On Djokovic: He is interesting and I am going to watch him closely. Now at 11 Grand Slams, he has Pete Sampras and Rafael Nadal on 14 before reaching Federer’s 17. But the way he is playing, I see him winning many more. He is so consistent, his game is athletic.

On Federer and retirement: Not at all, he should continue. He is a problem for players like Djokovic. He is playing well. Even Andy Murray is also in his highest ranking but the problem is Djokovic who is playing better.