Timothy Henry "Tim" Henman

Tim Henman

Timothy Henry "Tim" Henman OBE (born 6 September 1974) is a retired English tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis that suited the grass courts of Wimbledon. He was the first player from the United Kingdom since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the semi-finals of the Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship.

Having reached six Grand Slam semi-finals, won 11 career ATP titles, and been ranked number 4 in the world, Henman was one of the the United Kingdom's most successful open era male tennis players. He retired after helping Great Britain defeat Croatia in a Davis Cup match played in September 2007.

Private life

Tim Henman comes from a sporting family: his father Tony, a Solicitor was accomplished at various sports, including tennis. His mother Jane, a dress designer, played Junior Wimbledon and introduced Tim and his older brothers Michael and Richard to tennis as soon as they could walk on the family's grass court. His great grandfather played at Wimbledon. His maternal grandfather Henry Billington played at Wimbledon between 1948 and 1951, plus representing Britain in the Davis Cup in 1948, 1950 and 1951. In 1901 his maternal great-grandmother, Ellen Stanwell-Brown (or Ellen Mary Stowell-Brown), was reputedly the first woman to serve overarm at Wimbledon. His maternal grandmother, Susan Billington, appeared regularly at Wimbledon in the 1950s, playing mixed doubles on Centre Court with her husband Henry, reaching the third round of the ladies' doubles in 1951, 1955 and 1956. She was also the last person to serve underarm at Wimbledon.

Tim was educated at the Dragon School, Oxford and later at Reed's School, Cobham, where he passed 10 GCSE exams, combining school with a tennis scholarship. Between the ages of 10 and 17 he was a member of the David Lloyd Slater Squad, where he trained alongside a number of other young British tennis hopefuls. Henman won many titles at various different tournaments.

While still at school, Henman was diagnosed with osteochondritis, a bone disease (one form of chondritis). However, he kept playing tennis, and in 1992 won the National Junior titles in singles and doubles, deciding to join the professional tour in 1993.

On 11 December 1999, Henman married his long-term girlfriend, TV producer Lucy Heald. Together they have three daughters, Rose Elizabeth "Rosie" (born in London on 19 October 2002), Olivia (born 15 December 2004), and Grace (14 September 2007).

Henman supports Oxford United Football Club and is a keen golfer, he has just got down to scratch.

Professional career

Henman climbed up the rankings very quickly. In 1994, he was among the top 200 players in the world; by 1995, among the top 100; and by 1996, he had made it into the top 30 and won a medal at the Atlanta Olympics. He was the UK's highest ranked player that year, and won the Most Improved Player trophy at the ATP awards. He was subsequently elected to the ATP Tour Player Council and went on to win his first championship in January 1997. In March of that year, he underwent surgery on his elbow which kept him out of action for two months.

During his early career he became the first player ever to be disqualified from the Wimbledon tournament in 1995. The young Henman thrashed a ball in a fit of pique during a doubles match, striking a ball girl on the head.. He made a public apology after the incident.

In 1998, the year in which he reached Wimbledon's semi-finals for the first time, he was ranked as one of the top 10 ATP players. "Tiger Tim" as he is known to the British tabloids and Wimbledon diehards (many of whom assemble on Henman Hill, unofficially named after their hero) - has come close to reaching the final on a number of occasions, bowing out during the semi-final in 1998, 1999, 2001 (when just two points from victory at one point) and 2002. In 2000 he reached the fourth round and in 1996, 1997, 2003 and 2004 he was ousted during the quarter-finals. Two of those semi-final losses were to Pete Sampras. In another he lost to Lleyton Hewitt who was ranked number 1 in the world at the time. In each of his semifinal losses, his opponent went on to win the Championship. Other affectionate names given by Tim's fans include "Tin Man", "Timbo" and "Tiger Tim", which are often heard shouted from the stands at the Wimbledon centre court. During his second round match at Wimbledon 2007, one spectator cried out "King Henman, the Master Sorcerer of Timbledon!", which was greeted with a courteous bow from Tim himself.

One of the tournaments in which he has been most successful is Queen's Club. He reached the final in 1999, where he lost to Pete Sampras, and went on to reach the final again in 2001 and 2002, where both times he lost to Lleyton Hewitt.

2001 was Henman's best Wimbledon year. He beat the emerging Roger Federer in 4 sets during the quarterfinal and gained a lot of confidence coming into the semi-finals since the defending champion Pete Sampras had been knocked out. Henman faced three-time finalist Goran Ivanišević, who was likewise seeking his first Wimbledon victory. Ivanišević took the first set 7–5 after breaking Tim's serve with a return winner. Henman took the second after a tight tiebreak that seemed Ivanišević's way from the start. When Henman won the third set 6–0 the odds were very much in Henman's favour, but rain came early in the fourth set. The resulting suspension enabled his opponent to recover, and when play resumed, Ivanišević took the set on a tiebreak. Rain came again in the middle of the fifth set. Henman netted a handful of easy volleys during one of his service games, giving Ivanišević the break. Ivanišević won the decider 6–3 and subsequently went on to win the title.

In 2003 Henman took his first and only ATP Masters Series title, winning the Paris Masters against Andrei Pavel. Henman beat several players of exceptional calibre, including Nikolay Davydenko, Sébastien Grosjean, Gustavo Kuerten, Roger Federer and Andy Roddick on his way to the final, and only lost one set in the entire competition.

Until 2004, Henman had never progressed beyond the fourth round of any grand slam apart from Wimbledon. However, at Roland Garros he took the tournament by storm, surprising many accomplished clay-court players with his direct serve-volley style, whereas the majority of competitors on that surface, opt for a baseline approach. His run finally came to an end in the semifinals, where he was beaten by tournament favourite and eventual runner-up Guillermo Coria after winning the first set, the first that the Argentine had lost during the championships. At that time Coria had only lost once on clay in some 70 matches. Henman then continued his form and reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. Later that year, he added another grand slam semifinal appearance, at the U.S. Open, losing to eventual champion Roger Federer. Finally, at the end of year he qualified for the year-end Tennis Masters Cup.

In the 2004 Summer Olympics tennis event, Henman was seeded fourth and expected to do well, but lost in the first round.

In 2005, he lost in straight sets to Nikolay Davydenko in the third round of the Australian Open. This was considered a great disappointment, given his improved results at Grand Slams in the previous year. He went out in the second round at both the French Open and Wimbledon. In France, he lost in four sets to Luis Horna. At Wimbledon, he lost in five sets to Dmitry Tursunov after being 2–1 up; he narrowly won his first round match also in five sets, having been 2–0 down. At the US Open he lost in straight sets in the first round to Fernando Verdasco.

Henman ended an eight-match losing streak against Lleyton Hewitt on 25 March 2006, with a 7–6, 6–3 victory at the Nasdaq-100 event in Miami. The outcome was totally unexpected, but the Australian #1 didn't look strong throughout the match. However, 3 months later at 2006 The Stella Artois Championships 12-18 June June, Henman lost to Lleyton Hewitt 6–3, 3–6, 6–2 in the semifinals and also lost to Roger Federer at Wimbledon 2006 in the 2nd round.

Henman did not reach a Grand Slam final and his results in the latter part of his career saw him slip down the rankings to 62, leading to him being unseeded at Wimbledon in 2006 for the first time in a number of years. At that Wimbledon championships, he lost in the second round to eventual champion Federer, 6–4, 6–0, 6–2, after a five-set victory over Robin Söderling of Sweden in the first round. Henman experienced improved results with his world ranking rising to 39. However, he continued to suffer from injury problems.

Henman was created an OBE in the 2003 New Year's Honours List. He was painted by Royal artist Christian Furr in 2005.

In September 2006, Henman played two tournaments in the far east. Starting in Bangkok, Henman reached the Quarter Finals where he lost to Paradorn Srichaphan 6–7 6–4 7–6 after being 5–2 in the final set and serving for the match twice. Henman put this tough loss behind him and reached his first final since 2004 (Indian Wells) at the AIG Open in Tokyo, losing to Roger Federer 6–3 6–3 after beating Mario Ančić 6–2, 6–2 in a convincing Quarter Final display.

The following week he faltered in the third round in Madrid to David Nalbandian 6–2 2–6 7–5 after serving for the match. During this match there was reported animosity between the players over a disputed line call. Henman and Nalbandian were seen to be having words during the later changeovers.

Although Henman was scheduled to play in both Basel & Paris at the end of the 2006 season he was cut short in the second round in Basel against the Swiss rising star Stanislas Wawrinka 2–6, 7–6, 6–4 in a match that he was in complete control of early on until he twisted his knee. He did not retire but resorted to a less mobile and thereby less attacking game that allowed Wawrinka to claw his way back.

On Henman's last practice session before departing for the Australian Open at the start of 2007 he injured his hamstring after having recovered from his knee injury and was forced to withdraw from the tournament because of a hamstring injury. He returned in time to enter Masters Series events in Indian Wells and Miami after withdrawing from Rotterdam & Zagreb but lost in the first round in both of them.

After these tournaments Henman travelled back to the UK to help defeat the Netherlands 4–1 by winning both his rubbers in straight sets in the Davis Cup Euro-Africa Zone match at the Birmingham NEC. The victory allowed Great Britain a play off vs Croatia for the World Group in October 2006, played on Court 1 at Wimbledon. Henman took part alongside Andy Murray.

Henman's poor luck with injury, draws and form continued into the 2007 clay court season with first round losses to Juan Carlos Ferrero 7–5 6–2 in Monaco, Nicolás Almagro 7–5, 6–1 in Rome and a poor showing against 18 year old grand slam debutant Ernests Gulbis 6–4, 6–3, 6–2 in the French Open. Henman's clay court season ended without a single set won. His Grass court season got underway on 12 June 2007 at Queens Club, but was put to an abrupt end by Croatian wildcard entry Marin Čilić. Henman lost by 2 sets to 1 (7–6, 2–6, 6–4). However, he ended the day on a high with a doubles victory with partner Lleyton Hewitt over Australian Jordan Kerr and Austrian Alexander Peya (5–7, 6–4, 10-8). An early loss at a grass court event in Nottingham bode badly for Wimbledon but in the first round Henman showed flashes of his former self to dispatch the 25th seed, Carlos Moyà, in another trademark Henman fifth setter, 6–3, 1–6, 5–7, 6–2, 13-11. However, his efforts were in vain, as he was knocked out in the second round by Feliciano López in 5 sets on Centre Court.

Retirement

Henman announced at a press conference on 23 August 2007 that he would retire from Tennis after the Davis Cup match against Croatia in September 2007.

Tim Henman defeated his nemesis Dmitry Tursunov (who had won five of their six previous matches ) in the 1st round of the US Open 6–4, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 in what many had assumed would be his final grand slam match. He did in fact compete in his final grand slam match on 31 August 2007 and was defeated by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7–6 (7–2), 2–6, 7–5, 6–4 in the second round. Henman seemed slugglish compared to his first round match and threw away serving for the first set.

Henman played his final match in the Davis Cup tie against Croatia on 22 September 2007. The doubles match with Jamie Murray was played on Court 1 at Wimbledon which they won 4–6 6–4 7–6 7-5; Tim fittingly hitting the winner. The match put Great Britain in an unassailable 3–0 lead and back in the World Group, with the doubles win being added to singles wins the previous day from Henman and Andy Murray. After the match Henman told Sue Barker in an interview on BBC Television and in front of the Court 1 crowd, "It's occasions like this and fans like this that I will miss so much".

At the time of his retirement Henman had already committed to playing a Charity Exhibition at London's Royal Albert Hall during the Seniors Tennis Event The Blackrock Masters in December 2007. Henman's opponent was veteran Swede and former Wimbledon Champion Stefan Edberg, Tim won the pro-set 8–4.

The BBC announced on 10 April 2008 that Henman would become part of the commentary team for their coverage of the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. However, by the first weekend of the championships, he had lost his voice and was unable to return to commentating until the second Monday (30 June).

Singles record

Titles won (13)

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (1)
ATP Tour (10)
Challengers (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	23 October 1995	Seoul, South Korea	Clay	Vincenzo Santopadre	6–2, 4–6, 6–4
2.	13 November 1995	Réunion, France	Hard	Patrick Baur	1–6, 6–3, 7–6
3.	6 January 1997	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Carlos Moyà	6–3, 6–1
4.	8 September 1997	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Marc Rosset	7–6, 6–4
5.	14 September 1998	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	7–5, 6–4
6.	5 October 1998	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Andre Agassi	6–4, 6–3, 3–6, 6–4
7.	9 October 2000	Vienna, Austria	Hard (i)	Tommy Haas	6–4, 6–4, 6–4
8.	20 November 2000	Brighton, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Dominik Hrbatý	6–2, 6–2
9.	12 February 2001	Copenhagen, Denmark	Hard (i)	Andreas Vinciguerra	6–3, 6–4
10.	22 October 2001	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Roger Federer	6–3, 6–4, 6–2
11.	31 December 2001	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Mark Philippoussis	6–4, 6–7, 6–3
12.	28 July 2003	Washington, United States	Hard	Fernando González	6–3, 6–4
13.	27 October 2003	Paris, France	Carpet	Andrei Pavel	6–2, 7–6, 7–6

Singles finalist (18)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	2 May 1994	Manila, Philippines	Hard	Michael Tebbutt	6–2, 6–2
2.	30 December 1996	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Jim Courier	7–5, 6–7, 6–2
3.	17 February 1996	Antwerp, Belgium	Hard (i)	Marc Rosset	6–2, 7–5, 6–4
4.	12 January 1998	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Karol Kučera	7–5, 6–4
5.	27 July 1998	Los Angeles, United States	Hard	Andre Agassi	6–4, 6–4
6.	4 January 1999	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Rainer Schüttler	6–4, 5–7, 6–1
7.	15 February 1999	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	6–2, 7–6
8.	7 June 1999	London, United Kingdom	Grass	Pete Sampras	6–7, 6–4, 7–6
9.	4 October 1999	Basel, Switzerland	Carpet	Karol Kučera	6–4, 7–6, 4–6, 4–6, 7–6
10.	14 February 2000	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Hard (i)	Cédric Pioline	6–7, 6–4, 7–6
11.	6 March 2000	Scottsdale, United States	Hard	Lleyton Hewitt	6–4, 7–6
12.	7 August 2000	Cincinnati, United States	Hard	Thomas Enqvist	7–6, 6–4
13.	11 June 2001	London, United Kingdom	Grass	Lleyton Hewitt	7–6, 7–6
14.	18 February 2002	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Hard (i)	Nicolas Escudé	3–6, 7–6, 6–4
15.	11 March 2002	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	Lleyton Hewitt	6–1, 6–2
16.	10 June 2002	London, United Kingdom	Grass	Lleyton Hewitt	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
17.	8 March 2004	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	Roger Federer	6–3, 6–3
18.	2 October 2006	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Roger Federer	6–3, 6–3

Doubles record

Titles won (7)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1995	Manchester, United Kingdom	Grass	Mark Petchey	Massimo Bertolini Diego Nargiso	6–3, 6–4
2.	1995	Azores	Hard	David Saceanu	Nuno Marques Chris Wilkinson	6–2, 6–2
3.	1995	Seoul, South Korea	Clay	Andrew Richardson	Filippo Messori Vincenzo Santopadre	6–2, 6–1
4.	1997	Basel, Switzerland	Carpet	Marc Rosset	Karsten Braasch Jim Grabb	7–6, 6–7, 7–6
5.	1999	London, United Kingdom	Carpet	Greg Rusedski	Byron Black Wayne Ferreira	6–3, 7–6
6.	1999	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Olivier Delaître	Jiri Novak David Rikl	6–2, 6–3
7.	2004	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Nenad Zimonjić	Gastón Etlis Martín Rodríguez	7–5, 6–2

Doubles finalist (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1995	Reunion Island	Grass	Andrew Richardson	Yahiya Doumbia Fabrice Santoro	1–6, 6–3, 6–1
2.	1996	Atlanta Olympics, United States	Hard	Neil Broad	Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodforde	6–4, 6–4, 6–2
3.	2000	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Hard (i)	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	David Adams John-Laffnie de Jager	5–7, 6–2, 6–3

Note: The Tennis Masters Series, Masters Series and ATP Masters Series Events - as they are variously referred to, are a group of tournaments with more prestige than normal tour events, but less importance than the Grand Slams.

Performance timeline

Tournament	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Career SR	Career Win-Loss
Australian Open	A	A	2R	3R	1R	3R	4R	4R	4R	A	3R	3R	1R	A	0 / 10	18-10
French Open	LQ	LQ	1R	1R	1R	3R	3R	3R	2R	3R	SF	2R	2R	1R	0 / 12	16-12
Wimbledon	1R	2R	QF	QF	SF	SF	4R	SF	SF	QF	QF	2R	2R	2R	0 / 14	42-14
U.S. Open	A	2R	4R	2R	4R	1R	3R	3R	3R	1R	SF	1R	2R	2R	0 / 13	20-13
Grand Slam Win-Loss	0–1	4–2	8–4	7–4	8–4	8–4	10-4	12-4	11-4	6–3	16-4	4–4	3–4	2–3	N/A	98-49
Tennis Masters Cup	A	A	A	RR	SF	A	A	A	A	A	RR	A	A	A	0 / 3	4–4
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	A	A	1R	QF	2R	3R	F	2R	F	QF	2R	1R	0 / 10	20-10
Miami Masters	A	A	2R	1R	SF	3R	QF	2R	4R	2R	2R	QF	3R	1R	0 / 12	16-12
Monte Carlo Masters	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	2R	QF	SF	A	QF	1R	1R	1R	0 / 9	11-9
Rome Masters	A	A	A	2R	2R	3R	2R	2R	1R	1R	3R	3R	3R	1R	0 / 11	12-11
Hamburg Masters	A	A	A	A	2R	QF	3R	1R	2R	3R	2R	3R	A	A	0 / 8	11-8
Canada Masters	A	A	3R	1R	SF	2R	1R	2R	3R	2R	2R	1R	2R	A	0 / 11	10-11
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	2R	1R	1R	QF	F	SF	2R	1R	3R	2R	1R	1R	0 / 12	16-12
Madrid Masters (Stuttgart)	A	A	1R	3R	2R	2R	3R	QF	2R	1R	3R	2R	3R	A	0 / 11	10-11
Paris Masters	A	A	1R	2R	2R	3R	2R	2R	3R	W	3R	A	A	A	1 / 9	10-8
ATP Tournaments Won	0	0	0	2	2	0	2	2	1	2	0	0	0	0	N/A	12
Year End Ranking	167	95	29	17	7	11	10	9	8	15	6	36	'''39	292	N/A	N/A

A = did not participate in the tournament
LQ = lost in qualifying draw
SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played