Tursunov Aims to Dash Henman’s Hopes – Again
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© Getty ImagesDmitry Tursunov
Try, and then try again. At least that’s what Tim Henman could have been telling himself in the past when the likes of Pete Sampras and Lleyton Hewitt came up on the other side of the court. Henman lost his first six matches against seven-time Wimbledon champion Sampras before beating the former No. 1 in Cincinnati in 2000, and he lost his first eight against Hewitt before notching his first win over the Australian in Miami earlier this year.
But of late, another nemesis has emerged in the form Dmitry Tursunov, the American-based Russian who has beaten Henman in three of the past four Grand Slam tournaments.
It’s a statistic that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Henman or his followers, as the two prepare to meet for the fourth time in the quarterfinals of the Stella Artois Championships.
It all started less than a year ago at the All England Club, when Tursunov battled from two sets to one down to end Henman’s bid for the elusive Wimbledon crown in the second round, the first time the Briton failed to reach the last 16 since 1995.
Looking back at that match when quizzed by reporters at The Queen’s Club, Tursunov joked: “Well, I didn't really think about that before I did it, because then I had some difficulties leaving the country and just going outside in general. So I should have thought twice before winning that match.”
The two met again at the Australian Open in January, Tursunov winning in four sets in the first round, and then for the third time just two weeks ago in Paris at the French Open, where the Russian came through again in four sets over two rain-delayed days.
So what is it about Henman’s game that suits Tursunov’s powerful baseline approach? “Because I'm more of a power player, maybe that gives him difficulties to volley,” said Tursunov. “The way he's playing, he plays with a lot of feel, places the ball. So if the ball comes in at you 100 miles an hour, it's very hard to place it or to pinpoint where you want to hit it. So I think that has something to do with it.”
Tursunov burst onto the scene in Memphis in 2001, when, as a qualifier making his ATP debut, he reached the quarterfinals – with Britain’s Greg Rusedski his second round victim at the time.
Back injuries had plagued Tursunov since then, with the Russian missing the first six months of 2002 and then caused him to miss the second half of 2004. But he finished in the Top 70 for the first time in 2005, and goes into the quarterfinals at The Queen’s Club one place below his career-high ranking of 32.
Tursunov, who left Russia at the age of 12 and headed for California, is well known for his sense of humor, particularly after his blog on the ATP web site during Estoril. Asked to describe his tactics here, he laughed: “Does it look like I have a strategy when I play? Just kind of like a machine gun. If you hit the target ?? if you shoot 16 bullets a minute, you're gonna hit a target eventually. Kind of like that, I guess. Just kind of hit and hope that it's gonna go in.”
Henman, for one, will be hoping most of them don’t go in on Friday, but the British No. 3 was looking forward to the challenge. “It's obviously an interesting story for you guys (the media), but it doesn't really bother me because I'll do as good a job as I can about playing the way I have been and concentrating on my performance,” said Henman of the match-up. “If I go out and play the way I have been, I think I've got a good chance of beating him. If I play like that and I lose, then I'll shake his hand and say, ‘Too good.’ But I do feel very confident about the way things have been going.”