Tim Henman

Tim Henman

Timothy Henry "Tim" Henman OBE (born 6 September 1974) is a retired English professional tennis player and former British number one. 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 semifinals of the Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship. Henman never reached the finals of any Grand Slam but having reached six Grand Slam semifinals, won 15 career ATP titles (11 in singles and 4 in doubles), and been ranked world no. 4, Henman was one of Britain's most successful open era male tennis players.

Henman started playing tennis before the age of three, and began systematic training in the Slater Squad at eleven. After suffering a serious injury which affected him for the better part of two years, he began touring internationally as a junior and achieved some successes. He rose quickly up the ATP rankings, and by 1996 had reached the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships. Throughout his career, Henman would be a noted grass specialist, not becoming truly comfortable on clay and hard court before the end of his career, when in 2004 he reached the semifinals in both the French and US Open. The year 2005 began a decline for Henman, and from that year onwards he never managed to pass through the third round in a Grand Slam tournament. Henman retired from professional tennis in late 2007, but he remains active in the ATP Champions Tour (a tour for former professional tennis players).