Nesting instincts gives Henman early focus

Impending fatherhood and the nesting instinct could prove to be just what Tim Henman needs as he strains to make the next big step in his tennis career.

Gifted with great flair and a beautiful touch, for years the Briton has frustrated fans and tennis purists alike by stumbling at the final hurdle to players often less talented but almost always more focused than himself.

However, after a superb week with the high-rollers in Monte Carlo, the signs are there that the Briton's flaky days may be behind him.

In the principality Henman rode his luck, winning four claycourt matches and missing a fifth by the merest whisker.

In his opening match he stared defeat in the face, before rallying from a set and 4-1 down to beat Argentine Guillermo Coria.

He bounced back in his quarter-final against Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, also from a set down.

But more than luck, both these victories showed a tenacity and resolve which had often been missing from Henman's make-up.

GIVE BIRTH

Part of his current motivation, he said, is that he does not want to be scrabbling around for ranking points to reach the season-ending Masters Cup while wife Lucy is preparing to give birth.

The tournament starts in Shanghai on November 11 -- Henman's child is due in October -- and the 27-year-old conceded: "I've had my fair share of late-season scrambles for points and I've made the Masters on one occasion, and come up pretty close on another couple of occasions."

The year he qualified for the end-of-season jamboree was in 1998 and that year he played in five tournaments from October 5 to November 12, travelling from Basle to Vienna to Stuttgart to Paris before securing the points he needed in Stockholm.

"It would be nice to secure my spot nice and early this time," he said with typical understatement.

Henman has already reached three finals this year, winning in Adelaide in January and finishing runner-up at Indian Wells and Rotterdam.

He can certainly go into his next tournament in Rome full of confidence after a Monte Carlo week which had more than a touch of milestone about it.

POLISHED AFFAIR

Reaching the quarter-finals there last year was no mean achievement, but this year's trip to the semifinals was a far more polished affair.

"Mentally I am a little tired," he smiled after losing in three tough sets to former French Open champion Carlos Moya in the semifinals.

"But I am happy. I can take a lot away from this.

"I can certainly take a lot of confidence from it. I can go away knowing that I've given my all in every match and I've proven to myself, I think, another level of claycourt tennis.

"I think in all honesty there's probably an element of surprise as well," he admitted.

"Performing as well as I have, it takes me sometimes longer to adjust on hardcourts or even indoors. But I've adjusted really well.

"So I want to maintain the progress that I'm making because things are moving in the right direction, and it's good progress."