IT'S official: Nice guys don't win.

Tim Henman shed his goody-two shoes image at the US Open a couple of months ago and, after a recent tournament victory in Austria, duly collected his first ATP title on British soil this weekend.

By all accounts an irate Henman used his smash to less conventional effect at Flushing Meadow where he chucked away a two-sets-to-one lead to lose to Richard Krajicek on a double fault.

The British number one and archetypal 'stiff upper' lip Englishman re-arranged the locker room in a fit of pique and has been a changed man ever since.

Henman might not see the situation as quite so black and white.

"This image thing has always been wrong anyway. It has never been a question of being too nice," he said prior to beating Dominik Hrbaty in the final of the Samsung Open at Brighton on Sunday night.

But his results since his American outburst have been impressive and his sixth title win has focussed his mind even more sharply on Wimbledon 2001.

The new-look Henman, whose occasional expletive was easily audible at a less than packed Brighton Centre, might even swear out loud at Wimbledon. The strawberries and Pimms will be going everywhere.

Heaven forbid Henman becomes the new Jeff Tarango, but a British winner would be nice. However, there is one flaw in the theory that a surly, bad-tempered, prickly approach will pay dividends for one of our sporting finest.

Why hasn't Colin Montgomerie won a string of Majors?