AT the beginning of the Australian Open, Pete Sampras was asked who he thought were the rising tennis stars of the future. He saw this one coming a galaxy off and a huge grin spread over his face. "You want me to say Tim Henman, huh?"
Yesterday, after Henman had secured a third-round meeting with Michael Chang tomorrow, the praise he received from his beaten opponent, Guillaume Raoux, was nothing like so obviously solicited, and perfectly genuine.
The bespectacled Frenchman, beaten 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 admitted that he had been quite incapable of troubling the British number one. "Tim has a great feeling for match play. He is intelligent and always does those things you are least expecting. All the rubbish has been cleared out of his game and potentially he could beat anyone in the world right now.
The conditions could hardly have been more different from Henman's first-round match when the sun's heat was withering. A gusty wind blew early in the morning and by midday great sends of ragged grey cumulus were rushing in from the west.
There were several interruptions, mostly because of drizzle which made the court slippery, and one sharp downpour caused a considerable mid-afternoon stoppage.
Raoux, a thoroughly engaging doubles specialist, whose unambiguous enthusiasm had so lifted the French team against Sweden last November, believes Henman can beat Chang. "It is not as if Tim is actually playing out of his skin. He is playing well within himself and using 100 per cent of his potential. He never came down to my level."
The wind was exceedingly tricky, yet throughout Henman served with absolute authority, presenting Raoux with only two break points which he snatched away before the Frenchman had time to savour their luxury.
After Henman had been beaten by Boris Becker in the semi-final of the Grand Slam Cup late last year, the German expressed his surprise that the British player, given the excellence of his serve, did not follow it into the net more frequently. "It was something my coach David Felgate and l had decided on, and Boris's comments reiterated the point."
Chang, the number two seed, is one of the game's most assiduous retrievers, although less comfortable against serve and volley. Henman plans to be suitably aggressive tomorrow when he will attempt to dictate the pattern and flow of the match.
It is not in Henman's nature to get carried away by success but there is no doubting his current confidence and the self-belief that he can defeat Chang who lost two Grand Slam finals last year. against Becker in Melbourne and Sampras at Flushing Meadows.
Chang was equally authoritative in his second-round match, defeating America's Richey Reneberg 6-3, 7-5, 6-1. This is one of the surfaces he most enjoys and clearly it will be a huge test for Henman. They have never met before.
Chile's Marcelo Rios continued to ooze class with a straight sets victory over Michael Joyce of the US, while Sweden's Thomas Enqvist had a similarly commanding win over Australia's Richard Fromberg.
The frisson of a major shock in the women's singles temporarily gripped the centre court when Steffi Graf, the number one seed, found herself 4-0 down in the first set against Latvia's Larisa Neiland.
A couple of close line-calls, which Graf clearly believed were incorrect, finally concentrated her mind wonderfully; the old power was turned up and Neiland succumbed 7-5, 6-2. It is a pattern Graf watchers have almost come to expect.
There is, however, a report from Germany that if the defence arguments in her father's trial for tax evasion are not accepted by the court, then he would possibly be sentenced on January 24th, just before the final.
Graf was asked if she mighty consider leaving if that happened. "No," she replied, "l wouldn't even have started it because I knew when the trial might end."
