The hall is huge, and my immediate reaction was: “How can they afford this?” They claim they cannot at the moment and that they lie awake at night worrying about how to pay the bills. “And when I’ve got a journalist captive, I have to exploit the opportunity,” he adds.
There didn’t seem a lot of point in small talk as I entered the Old Rectory in Nether Alderley. “It’s just that it’s annoying for us to hear YET again all of this,” she says. Neil and Christine Hamilton assure me that they are not really obsessed with their battle to clear their name – but I do not believe them. From the moment I enter their lovely home in deepest Cheshire, they talk of little else This goes on for three hours without a break.

At one point, as Neil hammers home yet another point that he believes everyone else has got wrong, I cannot stop myself from letting out a strangled “Arghhhh!” This gets Christine’s attention “He’s not really aggressive,” she says “I don’t educate you in the spirit of criticism,” says Neil. “I hit another net cord today,” Henman said, “and put both hands up.”ATP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP(numbers indicate seeding)RED GROUP1 P Sampras (US)4 C Moya (Sp)6 K Kucera (Slov)8 Y Kafelnikov (Rus)WHITE GROUP:2 M Rios (Chile)3 A Agassi (US)5 A Corretja (Sp)7 T Henman (GB)Semi-finals (Sat): Winners v runners-up from each group.TODAY’S MATCHES1pm start (GMT)Sampras v KafelnikovMoya v KuceraRios v Henman. “It’s rare that you have in your hands a record that you can set forever,” Sampras said. “Certainly this week I know that, but I can’t worry about it I can’t dwell on it too much. I just have to go out and play the tennis I can play.”The American is in Red Group with Carlos Moya, of Spain, Karol Kucera, of Slovakia, and the Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Sampras opens his campaign against Kafelnikov this afternoon, having won nine of their 11 previous matches.Kafelnikov has been practising with Henman, having made up with the Briton after accusing him of a lack of respect for neglecting to apologise for net cords during their recent match in Paris. He added that, win or lose, he has already made his mark on it, having skidded while practising in new tennis shoes.Henman was defeated by Corretja in their only meeting, 6-3, 7-5 at the Paris indoor event last year.

The British No 1 has split his two contests against Agassi, losing on concrete, 6-4, 6-4 in the Los Angeles final in August, and winning on carpet 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the final in Basle last month.Sampras, the defending champion, needs to match Rios’ progress this week to stay at No 1. “This is going to be my best opportunity.”Emphasising that “there are no easy draws here”, Henman added: “I think it is fair to admit I was happy to avoid Mr Sampras.”The indoor concrete court at the Expo 2000 Tennis Dome here is, Henman says, “fair to everyone – the ball bounces high, and it’s not particularly fast”. Should Agassi withdraw, Rusedski would join Henman in the White Group along with the Chilean Marcelo Rios, ranked No 2, and Corretja, ranked No 5.”I wouldn’t be honest if I said I didn’t want to play,” Rusedski said. “You don’t want anybody to be injured, but only eight players are able to make these points at the end of the year, and it would be a chance to get into the top 10.”Henman, who played one match as a substitute for the Spaniard Sergi Bruguera last year, makes his debut on merit tonight against Rios, the only player in the tournament who can deny Pete Sampras a record sixth consecutive year as the world No 1.Rios has won his two previous matches against Henman, both this year – in the semi- finals of the Lipton Championships on concrete in Florida in March 6- 2, 4-6, 6-0 and in the second round of the Italian Open on clay in Rome in May, 6-3, 6-1 (the slow clay is Henman’s worst surface).Henman was the only player to take a set off Rios at the Lipton, where charter flights from Chile arrived to cheer their sporting hero to No 1 in the world when he defeated Agassi in the final. “I still remain hopeful, but I don’t want to jeopardise or hurt myself more by playing if I’m not 100 per cent sure.”
Rusedski, who retired after pulling a hamstring during his second round- robin match last year, missed qualification this time by only 30 world ranking points.

GREG RUSEDSKI, looking businesslike in a pin-stripe suite yesterday as the substitute at the eight-man $3.5m (pounds 2.1m) ATP Tour Championship, may be pressed into action to replace the injured Andre Agassi in the same round-robin group as his fellow Briton Tim Henman. Agassi, who strained his back in a fall while practising with Alex Corretja, of Spain, has been allowed to delay starting the tournament until tomorrow. “I jolted the back, and it went into spasms, and it’s creating all sorts of havoc,” Agassi said. But the Football Association will today ask for a 12-month delay to the new format at a meeting with Uefa, football’s European governing body..

“We will not be making a move just yet but we will see how he progresses,” the Frenchman said.Fourteen of Europe’s top clubs, including Manchester United and Liverpool, have reached agreement for an expansion of the Champions’ League from 24 to 32 teams next season. That is insulting and it is nonsense.”Impey was due to have a medical last night and is expected to complete his transfer to Filbert Street today. Despite Storrie’s words, Redknapp may yet be obliged to sell another player. There were reports last night that a second sale may be demanded by the board.Liverpool will hold back on any move to bring the AZ67 Alkmaar defender, Peter Wijker, to Merseyside. Gerard Houllier, the club’s manager, went to the Netherlands on Sunday to watch the 6ft 3in player.