Tim Henman blasts US Open over controversial plans to increase coaching influence

Michael Graham 16 Jun 2019 11:29 AM

Former British number one Tim Henman has lashed out at the US Open after they revealed plans to experiment with allowing on-court coaching.

Last month they announced plans to allow players to ask for advice from their team between points in August.

Henman, though, who is strongly opposed to the idea.

“I have spoken to 30 past players about the use of coaches during matches and none of them support it,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.

“To me, that is the tail wagging the dog. It ought to be up to the player to problem solve during a match. One of tennis’s most important points of difference is that it is a one-to-one, gladiatorial sport.”

Another worry for Henman is the growing lack of uniformity between tournaments, with the different Grand Slams especially reflected.

In recent times, different Grand Slams have used different rules for things such as shot-clock and deciding set tiebreaks, and this would be another to add to the list.

“I don’t think it reflects well on the game when everybody does their own thing,” added Henman.

“We have got to make sure we don’t become even more disjointed.”

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