Tim Henman took a dig at Wimbledon organisers on Tuesday, saying they are doing little to help his chances of winning his home Grand Slam. The serve-volleying Briton struggled on Queen’s Club grass to beat Davide Sanguinetti in the Stella Artois Championships, before saying he believed British grasscourt tennis had been slowed down too much. New mixtures of grass have generally slowed the surface down as well as making it more durable. Last year’s Wimbledon men’s singles final was contested by two baseliners, eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt and Argentine David Nalbandian. “I have raised this with Wimbledon and was told that nothing had changed, which I find a bit surprising. but from my point of view there’s no point in complaining about it. I just have to adjust,” the British number one said. Henman, four times a semi-finalist at Wimbledon, added: “There obviously has been an effort to slow the game down and I question whether it’s gone a little bit too far on grass. “If it was a cricket pitch would it be prepared to the style of our team? I’m sure it would be. “Whether that should be the case in tennis I leave to other people to decide.” Henman is bidding to become the first Briton to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936. With his attacking style hampered by slower grass, those barren years seem likely to continue. “I felt with the way I’d been playing in Paris in the last few weeks I could really play aggressively and serve and volley all the time,” Henman said after Tuesday’s 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 struggle against Italy’s Sanguinetti. “Realistically that is not going to be the best tactic. Yougo back a few years and game plans on grass didn’t really come into it. It’s making life a lot harder, that is for sure.” (Reuters)
