A couple of matters have been perplexing Tim Henman this week — why reports of his BBC salary for Wimbledon have been hugely inflated, and why people seem quick to write off his old mate Roger Federer.
Our former world No 4 was not the only one intrigued to read that his fortnight’s commentary at SW19 will be apparently paying him £200,000, the supposed figure provoking a degree of outrage, with even the TaxPayers’ Alliance weighing in.
On the box: Henman (centre) will be part of the BBC's commentary team alongside John McEnroe (right) and Andrew Castle More from Mike Dickson... World of Tennis: Gulbis may be right that the top four are boring and polite... but no sport has the characters of 30 years ago 02/06/13 The tune has been changed: The ITPL launch will finally end the tedious annual complaints over the length of the calendar 26/05/13 World of Tennis: Nadal looks as good as ever... hopefully Murray will be fit to test him in Paris 19/05/13 World of Tennis: Slams need to help smaller events pay the way for Future stars 13/05/13 All England Club can't find members who saw Bunny's big day 08/07/12 Mike Dickson's World of Tennis: Jack's not court short 01/07/12 Mike Dickson's World of Tennis: Confounding stereotypes 17/06/12 World of Tennis: Like her parents before her, Baltacha deserves Olympic spot 10/06/12 World of Tennis: Watson has no issues with new Brit Konta 03/06/12 VIEW FULL ARCHIVEWhen I asked him what he is really getting I expected a politely evasive answer but, unusually with such a personal matter, he is happy to be fairly precise about the issue.
‘I don’t want to be exact but it is actually less than a quarter of that and the same as last year,’ he tells me.
‘I try not to lose my sense of humour about things like this but this one was a bit irritating and as it’slicence-payers’ money it’s only fair that people know it has been grossly exaggerated. I should be so lucky.’
So there you have it, less than £50,000.
Henman is still in close touch with Federer, to the extent that they hit together the last time the great Swiss was in London.
‘From everything I hear and see Roger is still very hungry and I know he is desperate for more Grand Slam titles.
‘Understandably everyone is talking about Novak and Rafa but it seems there’s a tendency to think Roger’s past it. Anyone writing him off for Wimbledon does so at their peril. I won’t be among them.’
Bright star: Watson Heather Watson gave us cause for optimism this week, but there are not waves of talented young women coming through.In fact there is not a single British representative in the ITF top 100 girls or the French Open juniors, which is pretty sobering.Now word reaches me that one of Watson’s most talented compatriots, 18-year-old Tara Moore, is becoming so disillusioned with her lack of support from the LTA that she is entertaining an offer to defect to Hong Kong, which she qualifies for through her mother.Steve Martens, the apparently irreplaceable former player director at Roehampton HQ, said last year that Moore, a quarter-finalist at junior Wimbledon, has some of the best natural hand skills he had ever seen. Her discipline has not always been perfect — not uncommon in a teenager — and she is far from the finished article, but GB tennis has few of her potential.We are told that LTA chief executive Roger Draper is becoming more ‘handson’ in the national training department (he has little option as so many senior staff have left). He could start by sorting out this situation out.
SECOND HELPINGS AT NOTTINGHAMThe grass-court season begins its all-too-brief run today with a men’s Challenger at Nottingham and the somewhat confusing scenario of back-toback women’s events at the same venue, with a $75,000 tournament followed by one worth $100,000.
Strangely the field for the first looks stronger than that for the second. And it looks even more strange because the latter event is happening in the same week as the main WTA Tour event 45 miles away at The Priory, Birmingham’s elite club where the LTA are controversially investing £5million on facilities. Heather Watson is the sole high-profile Brit entered there.
The suspicion has been that this curious state of affairs is due to a desire to get some easy points for the home players. However, apparently the reason for the second event is a WTA request for more playing opportunities pre-Wimbledon, and the All England Club, ever mindful of nurturing grasscourt tennis, have been primemovers in its introduction.
This double dose of women’s action for the good burghers of Nottingham may, however, not happen next year, as apparently there is a new tournament on the turf planned for, of all places . . . Cairo.
To venture out into the public areas of Roland Garros remains something akin to being a human dodgem car — however magical it is, the crowds mean expansion is needed.The plans include building what looks like being a stunning new court attached to the greenhouses in the botanical gardens next door.A victim of the new layout — to allow for a sort of people’s square — will be the superb Bullring No 1 court, a venue so intimate you almost feel like you are out there with the players. A favourite memory is sitting in the front row of the media seats square of the baseline watching John McEnroe, who recoiled in mock horror after noticing members of Her Majesty’s Press. But it may be around for a while yet. There are so many local objections to the scheme that some here reckon a 2016 completion date looks optimistic, and that it could be more like 2018. BRIT OF THE WEEK (AN ANDY MURRAY FREE ZONE)Shared by Heather Watson and Elena Baltacha — for going where no British women had gone in 17 years at Roland Garros.
