2004 Sep 20 - Davis Cup: Henman cautious

Tim Henman is under no illusion that the Great Britain squad have a challenge on their hands as they edge closer to the World Group Play-off against Austria starting 24th September.

The usual suspects in the squad are Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski. They will be joined by the two most talented next-generation players in the country, Alex Bogdanovic and US Open boys champion Andrew Murray.

Austria purposely chose to play the tie on clay in Portschach knowing it was the surface the British players were less comfortable on... although having seen Tim Henman reach the semi-finals at Roland Garros this year they may be having second thoughts.

Tim told his personal website:

"None of us are clay court specialists by any stretch of the imagination and it's definitely my least favourite surface.

"I'm sure they're going to try and make it as slow and as heavy as possible."

The squad - including captain Jeremy Bates - have been preparing for the showdown with Austria on the clay courts at La Manga on the east coast of Spain.

Tim added:

"Any extra practice we can get is most welcome and it means that this week we won't be playing catch-up.

"There's still an awful lot of work to put in this week in order to try and make sure everybody is ready come Friday, but the team spirit has been excellent so far and everybody is pulling for the right result come the weekend."