Tennis: Henman ready for clay breakthrough

OF ALL the possibilities at the French Open, which starts here today, the notion that Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski will advance to meet in the men's singles semi-finals - let alone that Henman will go on to win the title and become the world No1 - appears to be among the easiest to discount, probably in the Britons' own minds as well as those of their peers.

In view of Henman's improvement on clay courts this season, however, the British No 1 at least may be able to play through a few matches, which would represent a breakthrough. Henman, the No 7 seed, who opens today against Karim Alami, of Morocco, has not progressed beyond the first round in three attempts at Stade Roland Garros. He lost to Chris Goossens, of Belgium, in 1996, to Olivier Delaitre, of France, in 1997, and retired with a back injury during the opening set against the American Sargis Sargsian last year.

Rusedski, the No 13 seed, reached the third round as a Canadian, in 1994, and has won one match here as a Briton, in 1996, when he lost to Germany's Michael Stich in the second round. Rusedski, who plays another German, David Prinosil, in his opening match today, has not laboured as successfully as Henman on clay this season.

Henman's attacking style has been less vulnerable on the slow surfaces in recent weeks, which is encouraging given that this is a period of the year when British players tend to react as if asked to climb sand dunes in preparation for Wimbledon.

In that respect, they are in the best of company. Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi have yet to crown their careers with the French title, which would enable them to join an elite group of four men - Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver and Roy Emerson - who managed to win all four Grand Slam titles, although only Budge and Laver (twice) accomplished the feat within a calendar year.

Perry, Budge, Laver and Emerson competed in eras when the major championships were played on only two surfaces, grass at Wimbledon, New York and Melbourne, clay in Paris. John McEnroe, who is back having moved on to being a television commentator, had one of the most famous failures in Paris, losing to Ivan Lendl in the 1984 final after winning the first two sets.

Does McEnroe think we will ever see Sampras win the French Open? "You can't discount anyone that's won 11 Grand Slams, is competing, and wants something that badly," he says, "particularly given the fact of how open the men's game is and how no one has really taken the bull by the horns. But, having said that, it's going to be extremely difficult for him to win it. He's not comfortable on clay.

"Once again he's not going to go into the tournament very prepared. It would be hard to believe he could pull it off. But in a situation where, maybe if he had nothing to lose, and he had a great draw, and things started falling his way, we'll see. Stranger things have happened."

Sampras, the No 2 seed, does not have the best of draws. The Ukrainian Andrei Medvedev may be waiting in the second round, and Gustavo Kuerten, the Brazilian who won the title in 1997 and is the form player on clay, looms in the quarter-finals. "I've promised myself I'm going to come in more on my second serve, chip and charge more," Sampras says.

"That's the only way I'm going to do it, not be dictated to by the surface. To win any Grand Slam takes an element of luck. Everything needs to fall into place, and I realise that at the French it takes from the right weather, to the way I'm playing, to whom I'm playing."

The names occupying most minds in the men's event are Kuerten, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the Russian world No 1 and top seed, Marcelo Rios of Chile, the Spaniards led by Carlos Moya, the defending champion, and Alex Corretja, who contested last year's final, and Agassi, who opened the 1990s by losing consecutive finals.

Venus Williams, the outstanding female player on clay so far this season, may dispute the destiny of the women's singles title with Martina Hingis, the world No 1, in the quarter-finals.

Home supporters will not hear of that, however, as their expectation builds towards the possibility of a second round showdown between Hingis and their own Amelie Mauresmo, who lost to the Swiss in the Australian Open final.

Hingis, a junior champion at the age of 12, has yet to add the French Open title to her three other majors. "It's such a long tournament," she says, "and you have to be ready to fight for every point. It takes so much out of you, much more than playing on grass at Wimbledon, or on a hard court. Last year against Monica [Seles] in the semis, I thought I had already won the final by beating Venus. And the year before I was just happy to be here playing after my riding accident. But there is this year, and hopefully many more years to come."

n Patrick Rafter warmed up for the French Open by winning two matches in a row to help Australia to a 2-1 win over Sweden on Saturday for their first World Team Cup victory in 20 years. The world No 3 first beat Thomas Enqvist 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 to level the tie at 1-1, then teamed up with Sandon Stolle to beat Jonas Bjorkman and Niklas Kulti 7-6, 6-4 in the deciding doubles.