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Grosjean aiming to quell Henmania
July 02, 2003 16:04 IST
Sebastien Grosjean will try and silence Tim Henman's fanatical fan club when he plays his first quarter-final at Wimbledon on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old Frenchman, a Grand Slam semi-finalist in Australia and France in 2001, booked a meeting with the British number one when he overcame third seed Juan Carlos in the fourth round on Tuesday.
"I will have to start very well and hit the ball very well at the beginning," Grosjean told reporters after completing a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 defeat of the French Open champion in a match held over from Monday evening.
"If Tim has a good start, you know, with the public behind him, he will have more confidence. I know everybody will be for Tim, he has a really good chance to win this year.
"I am really happy to play on Centre Court and I will just focus on my own game and won't think that I have Tim against me."
Grosjean, who beat Henman on the way to reaching the final at Queen's Club in the run-up to Wimbledon, knows what to expect from the crowd after losing to the Briton in the third round on Centre Court in 1999.
"The crowd then was all for Tim, but I didn't feel that everybody was against me," added Grosjean. "Tomorrow it maybe different but I will just focus on myself."
Henman, who has reached the semi-finals four times in the last five years, is bidding to become the first British player to win the men's singles since Fred Perry in 1936.