AEGON Masters champion Tim Henman has backed his good friend Roger Federer to return to World No.1 and break the record of Pete Sampras for the most weeks (286) in the top ranking position.
Federer has amassed 285 weeks - one less than Sampras - at No.1 over the past decade, but Henman believes the Swiss is not finished yet. The Briton hit with Federer ahead of the ATP Champions Tour tournament in London recently, which Henman won, and believes Federer is ready to win more Grand Slam titles.
“I think with a rolling ranking it will be interesting to see if Federer can get back to number one. He is just short of Sampras' record for most weeks at World Number One. I know Roger will really want to break that record, so I think it’s possible. I think he will win more Slams, I really do. If the conditions favour him then Roger at his best is still better than anyone else.”
Henman, who will begin his ATP Champions Tour season in 2012 at the BNP Paribas Zurich Open (March 20-24), picked Federer’s win at the O2 Arena as his highlight of the past tennis year.
“My highlight of 2011 has to be Federer winning the ATP World Tour Finals in London,” he said. “I've always been a Federer fan because I love the way he plays, and while he's lost a few matches out there this year, he deserved to win in London. It’s amazing that people were trying to write him off. For Roger to play the way that he did in London and go beyond both Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl in terms of year ending championship victories, that was incredible."
Against Federer, Henman won six of their first seven matches. The only one in that run that he lost was when Henman retired with an injury midway through. Federer hated playing against the relentless chip-charging British player, but eventually worked him out to win their last six contests.
Henman will try to go one step further at the BNP Paribas Zurich Open in March than he did earlier this year. He will be playing against the man who beat him in the 2011 final - Mark Philippoussis, and Frenchman Henri Leconte, with more names still to be announced.
The 2012 ATP Champions Tour begins in Delray Beach, Florida, February 24-28.
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