For Henman, It’s Win by Decision

WIMBLEDON, England —  Tim Henman needed a little help from his British friends, and apparently a good portion of the crowded house at Centre Court wasn’t quite enough Saturday at Wimbledon.

There was one other person who helped make the difference. Unfortunately for Henman’s opponent, Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, that individual was sitting in the umpire’s chair. A key overrule at a crucial juncture by chair umpire Jorge Dias of Portugal assisted the fourth-seeded Henman in the third-set tiebreaker on his way to a stirring 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-1 third-round victory over Ferreira.

Ferreira was ahead, 4-1, in the third-set tiebreaker when he struck what looked to be a mis-hit winner, clipping the baseline and sideline, far away from the chair umpire on the other side. It was called good by both line judges, and their judgment appeared accurate according to television replays. Henman, animated, looked at the line judges and signaled that the ball was out.

Dias overruled, and it was somewhat reminiscent of his critical overrule in the fifth set of the U.S. Open quarterfinal between Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt. An angry Roddick called Dias “a moron.” But the difference was that Hewitt didn’t work the official to get the call.

Ferreira said that the episode was “shocking.” He said Henman intimidated the chair umpire by his action. The British player went on to win the riveting 15-minute tiebreaker, 10-8, taking it on his seventh set point.

“He was showing out, showing a finger, acting like it was out,” Ferreira said of Henman’s reaction to the call. “I don’t blame him for it, no, not at all. But the umpire gets paid. He’s a professional. Shouldn’t let things happen like that.

“I think it’s shocking. There’s absolutely nothing I can do about [it]. But if he [Dias] had any decency, I think he would have at least come and apologized.”

Said Henman: “I think my gut reaction at the time was that it was out, but I’m sure that had a lot of hope to do with it.”

Ferreira admitted he too might have tried to influence the official. Since the call made the tiebreaker 4-2 instead of 5-1, it would have helped if the overrule had looked decisive, Ferreira said. And it seemed to be forgotten that overrules are supposed to be of an obvious error.

“Well, he hemmed and hawed about it being close, touching the side, but maybe long,” Ferreira said of Dias. “He wasn’t really sure. I think it was a total intimidation thing. I think he realized he made a mistake.”

Even on British TV, one commentator said that Ferreira was robbed. Jim Courier added on TNT: “A little home cooking right there.”

Henman needed some luck and circumstance to reach the fourth round. He kept serving to Ferreira’s backhand, the stronger side, and took something off his first serve, not wanting to go for the big one, preferring to go for the set-up. Ferreira came close to winning the match in straight sets but squandered two set points in the first-set tiebreaker.

The atmosphere for their match was boisterous. Ferreira had a great deal of support from South Africans who live here. “Best atmosphere I think I ever played in,” he said.

Said Henman: “There were a lot of times I wasn’t sure I was playing at home or Wayne was playing at home.”

Next for Henman is Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland in the fourth round, and if he gets past him, the potential quarterfinal opponents are Feliciano Lopez of Spain or Andre Sa of Brazil. Yes, the draw has opened for Henman, if you like understatement.

Someone asked Henman: “If they told you the eve of Wimbledon to get to [your] fourth semifinal, you would have to beat Kratochvil, Lopez and Sa, would you have signed?”

Henman, smiled, saying: “Yeah.”

The wreckage of the first week in the men’s draw has resulted in three Australians among the final 16 survivors--No. 1 Hewitt, Wayne Arthurs and Mark Philippoussis--two Brits, Henman and Greg Rusedski, and two Dutch players, Richard Krajicek and Sjeng Schalken.

And no Americans. For the first time since 1922, there are no American men in the final 16 at Wimbledon. Schalken took out the final one, lucky loser Jeff Morrison, 6-4, 7-6 (7), 6-0, in the third round, fighting off three set points in the tiebreaker.

“This has probably been the best week of my tennis career,” said Morrison, who was making his Wimbledon debut. “To do what I did and to put myself in position to play today in the third round at Wimbledon, beat Juan Carlos Ferrero on Centre Court at Wimbledon is a dream of mine. Now I’ll just have to build on that and have a good rest of the summer.”

He was asked about the state of the men’s game in the United States.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong with it,” he said. “There’s a great group of young guys that are up and coming. And I think people are getting a little impatient. And, you have Andy [Roddick], James [Blake] and Robby Ginepri, Mardy Fish, myself, Taylor Dent and all those guys are right on the verge of cracking the top 100. When we do that no one will be talking about that anymore.”

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At a Glance

A brief look at what happened Saturday on the sixth day of the Wimbledon tennis championships:

Attendance--39,722. Last year on the sixth day it was 40,043.

Seeded winners--Men: No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, No. 4 Tim Henman.

Seeded winners--Women: No. 1 Venus Williams, No. 4 Monica Seles, No. 6 Justine Henin, No. 12 Elena Dementieva, No. 16 Lisa Raymond.

Seeded losers--Men: No. 16 Nicolas Escude to Mikhail Youzhny.

Seeded losers--Women: No. 10 Silvia Farina Elia to Magdalena Maleeva

Stat of the Day--It is the first time since 1922 that no American men have reached the fourth round of singles.

Quote of the Day--”There’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. But if he had any decency, I think he would have at least come and apologized.” -- Wayne Ferreira on the chair umpire’s overrule in his loss Saturday to Tim Henman.