Virginia Wade knows how Tim Henman must be feeling. The 1977 Wimbledon women’s champion and fellow Briton may be the only person who knows how Henman is feeling.
Henman’s semifinal match with Goran Ivanisevic was suspended because of rain Saturday for the second time in two days, this time with the players tied two sets apiece and on serve with Ivanisevic leading 3-2 in the fifth set.
The delay only further heightens the anxiety of a British public seemingly hanging on a match that could result in the first British men’s finalist at Wimbledon in 63 years. Tents already were going up Saturday outside the All-England Lawn Tennis Club on the chance that tickets would available for Monday’s final. Officials were still undecided about whether to honor Saturday’s ticket-holders Monday.
For Henman, the tension can either fuel him or ruin him.
“I think Tim really believes he’s going to win, so I don’t think rain is going to bother him,” Wade said. “But I don’t think he’s going to be geared up for [Patrick Rafter] like he was going to be for [Andre] Agassi.”
The big question as night fell Saturday was whether the men’s final could be scheduled for Sunday, the same day as the conclusion of Henman-Ivanisevic. But after consulting with the players, tournament referee Alan Mills announced that for only the second time since 1922, the Wimbledon men’s final would be Monday.
Saturday’s women final between defending champion Venus Williams and Justine Henin, which never started, will take place Sunday at the conclusion of the men’s semifinal.
“If we were going to [play both matches Sunday],” Mills said, “we’re playing with players’ emotions. We’re talking about the Wimbledon singles semifinal and the Wimbledon final. To try to impose that onto a player against their wishes, I don’t think is satisfactory for a Wimbledon singles final.”
That was, of course, of little consequence to Ivanisevic and Henman. Henman walked off the court Friday with the momentum of a 2-1 lead in sets and 2-1 lead in the fourth set. But he headed into a fifth set after Ivanisevic won the tiebreaker 7-5 behind three aces and a forehand serve return at Henman’s feet to take the fourth set.
They had played 51 minutes when rain fell, Henman left to once again ponder the possibility of being the nation’s hero or just another reminder of its Wimbledon failures.
“I don’t think Tim will consider himself a failure if he doesn’t win,” Wade said. “I think it’s just an opportunity missed. Psychologically that’s how he has to think of it. The British have always said, `We have to have a Wimbledon winner,’ but [former Australian great] Ken Rosewall never won Wimbledon, and you would be glad to have Rosewall represent you. You just want to have top players.”
For Henman, the pressure is intense as Britain waits for perhaps its first men’s finalist since 1938 and its first men’s champion since Fred Perry in 1936.
“It’s incredible,” Wade said. “Every time I came to Wimbledon, it was tough. I was the `Great White Hope’ and all those headlines. And then they dump on you when you flop–`Ginny Fizzed.'”
Henman, introverted by nature, has been uncharacteristically emotional, often pumping his fists and trying to rally the crowd.
“[John] McEnroe keeps saying `Tim has to get the crowd involved,'” Wade said.
That can work both ways, added Wade, who found the fans a bit too much at times.
“The thing about the British crowd is they’re slightly hysterical,” Wade said. “I’ll always remember how in my final, on the very first point I won, everybody clapped like I had won the match. The crowd is so nervous, you have to really be confident and go with the wave. If you’re nervous at all and you play what you think is a bad point and they clap, you’re like, `What are they doing?’ If you’re feeling pressure, that wave can get to you.”
Still, Wimbledon is like no other tournament in the world, Wade said.
“You can walk on Center Court in the middle of the winter when it’s snowy and there are no lines on the court and it speaks to you,” she said. “There are a lot of spirits dwelling in that grass. It’s a heavenly spiritual place.”
