2004 Jul 25 - US Open: Henman to face Karlovic

Tim Henman has been draw against the 6'10" Croatian Ivo Karlovic in the first round of the US Open starting Monday 30 August.

The two players may not have previously met but the British No.1 knows he can never expect an easy match against a Croatian - Tim was defeated by Goran Ivanisevic in the Wimbledon 2001 Semi-Final and Mario Ancic in the Wimbledon 2004 Quarter-Final.

Tim told his personal website:

"There's no doubt that it's always going to be a real test when you play Ivo because he has the ability to serve incredibly well.

"It's never easy to play against players who have the ability to hurt you, and Ivo can certainly do that with his serve.

"Although he's never going to set any world speed records it is very difficult to get a hold of because it comes down from such a height, and given how responsive the balls are out here it's going to get up very high and be tough to control.

"However, I've got a good record against big servers generally and I've got a few days to prepare so my game plan will be relatively simple.

"I know what he's going to try and do once we get out onto court so if I can execute my game plan well enough I think I can get the right result."

British No.2 Greg Rusedski is set to face the Frenchman Cyril Saulnier in the first round of the US Open. The two players have met only once in Adelaide, Australia in 2004. Cyril was the victor on this occasion but Greg had the infamous nandrolone drug charges hanging over his head and was in a less than perfect frame of mind to compete effectively.

Tim and Greg are in the same quarter of the US Open draw and would face each other should they both progress to the third round.