Malisse is the man for Felgate

Malisse is benefitting from David Felgate's experience

By Andrew Warshaw at Queen's Club.

While Tim Henman prepares for yet another shot at Wimbledon - without a coach to guide him through - a young Belgian is reaping the benefits of what Henman left behind.

Since April, Xavier Malisse has been working with David Felgate, the British coach who was virtually inseparable from Henman for the best part of eight years.

When Henman and Felgate parted company in a blaze of publicity, still good friends but both needing to move on, Malisse took his chance.

Felgate may not have had much of a track record before Henman but the 20-year-old Florida-based Belgian, who had a well chronicled relationship with Jennifer Capriati, had seen enough to convince him he could do business with Henman's former mentor.

"David was looking for a new player and I was looking for a coach, simple as that," said Malisse in his first interview about the partnership following his first-round victory at Queen's.

David Felgate has linked up with Malisse

"He's got a lot of qualities. He's very calm off the court and on the court he's helped me mentally and tactically.

"Before, I used to travel alone or with my brother."

Felgate's qualifications as a coach have been called into question by the sceptics.

But Malisse, who is endeavouring to achieve the same breakthrough for Belgian men's tennis as the women did at the recent French Open, says Felgate is as knowledgeable as the next man.

"He's teaching me new stuff every day and it's very exciting. I was surprised when he said he wanted to work with me because he took Tim to where he is now.

"I met him in Atlanta for the first time in April and it went from there. We had to get used to each other, of course, but so far it's working really well."