Tennis Today: Tim Henman set for return to British Tennis – with Andy Murray making the appointment

Tennis Today
Andy Murray and Tim Henman

In Tennis Today, get ready for Tim Henman’s return to a tennis court – sort of – courtesy of Andy Murray, and Ashleigh Barty is definitely on Santa’s nice list this year according to her coach.

What’s on the site
Rafael Nadal is probably going to announce later that he is withdrawing from the ATP Finals with his abdominal injury, right?

Well, get yourself fully up to speed with the situation. Firstly, he has revealed what his doctors have said and it’s good news…

But then he has also said what he thinks, which is definitely bad news…

Nadal has also said what it is definitely not, which is in any way related to his change in service action this season.

It is all, of course, pretty good news for Novak Djokovic, who now stands a much better chance of getting the coveted year-end world number one spot. He, though, is being pretty diplomatic over it.

In the women’s game, and sticking with the injury theme, Simona Halep has revealed she is ‘falling to pieces’ after an untypically inconsistent season on the WTA Tour.

Enough with all this misery, though. Let’s instead offers some hearty congratulations to Andy Murray and his wife Kim, who have a new baby boy in the family.

Andy why not try to beat the bookies this week with the help of our resident tennis betting expert? It’s Next Gen Finals week, and it’s a wide open field.

What’s in the news
Tim Henman is reportedly in line to captain Great Britain’s ATP Cup team in Australia in January.

The rules of the inaugural event state that every team’s top player can appoint a team captain, placing Henman in a strong position.

Kyle Edmund is Britain’s highest-ranked player in the tournament, but Britain are only able to qualify due to Andy Murray using his protected ranking, making him the designated ‘top player’.

And, according to the Daily Telegraph, that makes Tim Henman – not Davis Cup captain Leon Smith – the top candidate for the role.

“Henman was an important mentor for Murray in his early days on the tour and their relationship remains strong,” the article reads.

“Although Britain’s Davis Cup captain Leon Smith would have been one option for the role, this is an intriguing decision – and it will have the additional benefit of differentiating the two events.”

Meanwhile, Ashleigh Barty is ‘a much better person than she is tennis player,’ according to he coach.

In an interview published in the Guardian, coach Craig Tyzzer has hailed the world number one.

“A lot of people talk about her talent and her tennis but talent only gets you so far and it’s really her character that has taken her to where she is right now,” Tyzzer is quoted as saying.

“I’m lucky enough on a daily basis to see what sort of person she is and she’s a much better person than she is a tennis player. So, for me, that’s been the key.”

What’s on social media
Benoit Paire is definitely one of these two people…

 

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Selfie #poto #chamelle 🤷🏽‍♂️

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The Patrick Mouratoglou Academy is not a fan of winter…

 

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*ight imma head out* 😩

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Diego Schwartzman IS a fan of his end-of-year world ranking…

And Simona Halep is jumping into close-season pretty much the same way I would like to…

What’s on TV

ATP NextGen Finals, Milan – Amazon Prime
Fed Cup Final, Australia v France (not until weekend 9-10 November, but mentioning it early to get your subscriptions sorted) – Fed Cup website (subscription streaming only)

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Andy Murray

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