Henman on a course of therapy

Having given up the uneven struggle against the ageing process on the court, Henman is still getting his competitive fix, but nowadays it comes in the form of playing 18 holes rather than sets of tennis.

Retirement sees him playing golf most days of the week in a bid to get his handicap down from two to scratch, and shooting 68 at Sunningdale has been a fair substitute for the challenges of the international tennis circuit.

'If I'd known it would be this good I might have retired sooner,' joked Henman yesterday, as he returned to his alma mater, Reed's School in Cobham, Surrey — which now hosts the David Lloyd Academy — to play a brief exhibition to celebrate its long-standing tennis programme.

Then there is the small matter of doing the school run, and helping out on the night-shift with baby Grace, born just before his valedictory Wimbledon appearance against Croatia in September.

He has not, though, cut tennis out of his life and while he takes his sabbatical from the game has continued to watch plenty on television, including the progress of Andy Murray.

The rankings yesterday showed that the Scot will finish his year at No 11 in the world, within a relative handful of points of being No 9.

'Considering his injuries it was a great effort to get so close to making the year-end championships, and what is so exciting for Andy next year is that there is still plenty he can work on,' said Henman.

'Providing he stays healthy, which is going to be a challenge itself, then he will be in the top eight for many years to come.'

Murray has conceded that an area which needs addressing is his first serve, although Henman is not so worried about that.

He added: 'When I saw Andy play in Madrid (where he narrowly lost to Rafael Nadal) it struck me how much he was dominating with his first serve and I don't see any reason why he can't serve like that the rest of the time.

'Possibly I'd like to see him look at his game-plans and make sure he doesn't play too defensively. When he's aggressive and dictating he looks a helluva player.'

Murray and Henman have each talked about hearing on the locker-room grapevine that match-fixing might be going on in tennis, with the ATP Tour wasting no time in interviewing the young Scot.

However, Henman revealed that nobody has been in touch with him to find out what he might know.

'I don't think it's a cancer in tennis but if it's going on at all then they should get to the bottom of it,' he said.

He is pleased that tennis is becoming more vigilant on the matter and was interested by his contrasting experience when playing in the pro-am golf event that preceded the recent HSBC Match Play at Wentworth.

'The caddies there were all betting on their own players and I'm sure they can bet on other players to win the tournament. I'm not saying there is a problem with it in golf but the comparison is interesting.

'In tennis if you have people in your entourage then part of them having a pass is that it is strictly forbidden for them to do any betting and that's the way it has got to be.'