HENMAN EXITS WITH GB BACK IN THE BIG TIME!

 

(Image taken from BBC)

Well the last time we made the World Group playoffs was when we faced Switzerland, in Geneva, back in '05 and we got hammered as in 'swept' 5-0 on a nicely prepared clay court. The last time we actually won a tie at this level was back in '02 when I was at Halls of Residence and despite having to rely largely on Tim Henman with Rusedski injured we still managed to with the tie in Birmingham 3-2 and give the Henman-Rusedski combo their last shot at the World Group.

Well fast forward to '07. Rusedski's retired and Henman's on his way out. Andy Murray's the main main for the 21st century but he's just coming back from injury and with Wimbledon and the US Open both being dissapointing from a UK perspective a tough Croatia team, even at Wimbledon wasn't an ideal matchup...we came in with a bit of luck though with both injuries and personal issues affecting the Croatians, forcing them to field a weakened squad.

Well first up was Andy Murray against Marin Cilic. Cilic got the first break of serve, taking advantage of a clearly rusty Andy to win the first set. The second set was a lot tighter and it was Andy that found a break late on to level the match. The Brit hit full power in the third set, the Croat crumbling and a late surge couldn't stop the turnaround. Cilic was back in business at the start of the fourth with Murray playing some very weak tennis to allow a fifth set. In the final set, some of the individual games may have been tricky but the set as a whole wasn't, Murray eventually claiming the win 3-6 6-4 6-2 4-6 6-3.

Then was the end of an era - Tim Henman's last ever single's match. And due to the continuing health problems in the Croatia squad he was up against the very obscure Roko Karanusic and the Wimbledon crowd saw time go out with his best match for a few years! Well the Croat won the first game but then Tim hit overdrive and "Roko" could only delay the loss of the first set. Tim had more of a fight in the second but he was clearly at his peak so no worries there. The Croat kept going but for one last day Wimbledon was Tim Henman's house and the standing ovation after a 6- 4 6-3-6-3 win was well deserved as was a brilliant career that lasted over a decade - Tim it's been an honour and you'll be hard to replace.

It wasn't the last we heard from Tim altogether though - he paired up with Jamie Murray in the doubles to face a team of Cilic and Lovro Zovko. The two sides held serve for the first part of the opening set but it was the Croatians that managed to get the edge. It was GB's turn to break in the second set, forcing a fourth down the line. The Croatians got the edge in the third only for GB to pull level and force a tiebreak which we won pretty smoothly. We didn't batter the Croatians in the fourth set, scratch that, they went down fighting but in particular did enough to take care of business and so GB won 4-6 6-4 7-6(7-3) 7-5. Perfecto.

As for the dead rubbers, well Andy beat Karunusevic 6-4 7-6(7-4) but Jamie Baker was beaten 4-6 4-6 by Cilic, allowing Croatia to avoid a sweep but still making sure the East Europeans weren't flattered. The good news, is that we're back in the World Group after a few years out. The bad news is that we've got a trip to Argentina in the first round proper and both Henman and Rusedski are now retired. So far we have one world-class singles player and a solid doubles specialist. Well we might survive in those circumstances but that's being optimistic.

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