Henman's gold aim

Tim Henman has targeted an Olympic gold medal after shrugging off a back injury.

Tim Henman has targeted an Olympic gold medal after shrugging off a back injury.

Britain's tennis No 1 has been hampered by stiffness in his lower back for several weeks, although he refused to blame the injury for his 6-1 6-4 defeat to Lleyton Hewitt in the Cincinnati Masters last week, his eighth straight defeat to the Australian. Henman, who won a silver medal with Neil Broad in the doubles in Atlanta in 1996, said: "Just being part of the Olympics is special in itself but I'd be lying if I said I haven't dreamt of winning the gold medal, so that's what I'm going over there to try and do."

Henman will discover his first-round opponent when the draw is made tomorrow and aims to reach the final on 22 August. "Obviously I'd always prefer to be fully fit but that's seldom the case," he said. "I've got used to trying to perform as well as I can while carrying a few niggles, as do most players, and hopefully it won't have a detrimental effect on my performance."