Henman Wins On Debut And Comes Face-To-Face With Goran

Added on: December 1, 2010

Tim Henman won his debut match on the ATP Champions Tour in London on Tuesday, and came face-to-face with the man that broke his heart at Wimbledon in 2001.

Henman, who reached four Wimbledon semifinals, defeated Younes El Aynaoui 6-4, 6-4 in the AEGON Masters Tennis at the Royal Albert Hall, shortly after appearing in a press conference with Goran Ivanisevic ahead of their clash on Wednesday night. It will be Henman and Ivanisevic’s first match against each other since that fateful three-day affair nine years ago, which the Croatian won before going on to lift his first and only Grand Slam title.

Against El Aynaoui, Henman started well, breaking once in the first set to take it 6-4. The second set was a completely different story, with the Morrocan establishing a 4-1 lead with some fabulous touch shots to outmanoeuvre his opponent. Henman rediscovered his form to reel off 5 games in a row to win the match.

“It was a good start,” said Henman. “I thought the quality of the tennis was pretty good so I was pleasantly surprised by that. I didn’t really know what to expect because it’s been so long since I’ve played any competitive tennis so that was really good. It’s great playing at the Albert Hall as well because, there’s such a special atmosphere here. I’m not getting ahead of myself. I think Goran, with the way he’s serving on this court, is going to be a tough battle with no matter how well I’m playing. But I used to enjoy trying to return Goran’s serve and I expect I’ll have to do a lot of that tomorrow night so that will be good fun.”

Henman was genuinely happy to see his old rival. To hear what he had to say and to see them together in an exclusive video at the Royal Albert Hall, go to our YouTube channel.

To see the full list of results, the order of play for the week and the latest group standings, go to results.

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