Tim Henman

Olympic medal record
Men's Tennis

Tim Henman
Country (sports)	Template:GBR4 England
Residence	London
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Turned pro	1993
Plays	Right; One-handed backhand
Prize money	$11,555,000
Singles
Career record	492-269
Career titles	11
Highest ranking	No. 4 (August 7, 2002)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	4th (2000, 2001, 2002)
French Open	SF (2004)
Wimbledon	SF (1998, 1999, 2001, 2002)
US Open	SF (2004)
Doubles
Career record	87-80
Career titles	4
Highest ranking	No. 62 (February 21, 2000)
	Last updated on: June 18, 2007.

Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974 in Oxford) is an English tennis player.

He is 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 6 grand slam semis and been ranked number 4 in the world he is Britain's most successful open era player. His playing style is Serve and Volley.

Early life

Henman was educated at Dragon School and Reed's School. He comes from a sporting family: his father was accomplished at various sports, including tennis. His grandfather and great-grandfather also competed at Wimbledon. Henman supports Oxford United Football Club and is a keen golfer.

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, some at smaller places such as Ilkleys tennis club.

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.

Professional career

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He climbed up the ranks 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 at a ball girl in a fit of pique during a doubles match, striking her on the head.

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. In 1999, Henman married his long-term girlfriend, TV producer Lucy Heald. Together they have two daughters, Rose Elizabeth (born October 19 2002), and Olivia (born 2004). They are expecting their third child in September 2007.

"Tiger Tim" - as he is known to the British tabloids and Wimbledon diehards (many of whom assemble on Henman Hill, unofficially named for 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, one of the greatest tennis players of all time. In another he lost to Lleyton Hewitt who was ranked number 1 in the world at the time. Other affectionate names given by Tim's fans include "Tin Man", "Timbo" and "Hen Head", which are often heard shouted from the stands at the Wimbledon centre court. During his second round match of Wimbledon 2007, one spectator cried out "King Henman, the Master Sorceror of Timbledon!", which was greeted with a courteus bow from Tim himself.

One of the tournaments he has been most successful in 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 Tim'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 semis since the latter just took out defending champion Pete Sampras. Tim 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. The latter gave in at the third, losing 6-0. The odds were for Henman then on, but rain came early in the fourth set that suspended the match and enabled his opponent to recover. When play resumed, the set went on until Ivanišević took the 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 went on to win the title.

In 2003 he took his first and only ATP Masters Series title to date, winning in Paris against Andrei Pavel. Better still, he beat Nikolay Davydenko, Sebastian 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 except Wimbledon. However at the Roland Garros he took the tournament by storm, beating many accomplished clay-court players who were beaten by his direct serve-volley style, whereas the majority of competitors on that surface elect a baseline approach, which the reigning champion Rafael Nadal adopts. His run finally came to an end in the semifinals, where he was beaten by tournament favorite and 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 a few months later, at the US Open, losing to eventual champion Roger Federer. Finally, at the end of year he qualified for the year-end Tennis Masters Cup.

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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 March 25 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 June-Jun 18, 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 has recently stated in the media that he has no plans to retire in the near future, although he has yet to reach a Grand Slam final and his results in recent years have shown a reversal seeing him slip down the rankings to 62 leading to him being unseeded at Wimbledon for the first time in a number of years. At the 2006 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 Soderling of Sweden in the first round. Of late Henman has experienced improved results with his world ranking rising to 39. However, he continues to suffer from injury problems.

Henman was created an OBE in the 2003 New Year's Honours List.

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 3-6 3-6 after beating Mario Ancic 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 Austalian Open at the start of 2007 he injured his hamstring after having recovered from his knee injury and was forced to withdraw from the Australian open in 2007 because of a hamstring injury. He returned in time to enter Masters Series Events in Indian Wells Masters and Miami Masters 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 allows Great Britain a play off for the World Group in October 2006, to be played on Court 1 at Wimbledon in October (vs Croatia). Henman is likely to take part alongside Andy Murray, Jamie Murray, Alex Bogdanovic & Jamie Delgado.

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, Nicolas 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 and great resilience to dispatch the 25th seed, Carlos Moyà, in another trademark Henman fifth setter. However, in round two he lost to Feliciano Lopez in another dramatic 5 set thriller. In the last set he lost 6 games to 1.

Singles record

Titles won

Tennis Masters Series (1)

ATP Tour (10)

Challengers (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	October 1995	Seoul, South Korea	Clay	Vincenzo Santopadre	6-2, 4-6, 6-4
2.	November 1995	Réunion, French Colony	Hard	Patrick Baur	1-6, 6-3, 7-6
3.	January 6, 1997	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Carlos Moyá	6-3, 6-1
4.	September 8, 1997	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Marc Rosset	7-6, 6-4
5.	October 5, 1998	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	7-5, 6-4
6.	October 5, 1998	Basel, Switzerland	Carpet	Andre Agassi	6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
7.	October 9, 2000	Vienna, Austria	Hard	Tommy Haas	6-4, 6-4, 6-4
8.	November 20, 2000	Brighton, United Kingdom	Hard	Dominik Hrbaty	6-2, 6-2
9.	February 12, 2001	Copenhagen, Denmark	Hard	Andreas Vinciguerra	6-3, 6-4
10.	October 22, 2001	Basel, Switzerland	Carpet	Roger Federer	6-3, 6-4, 6-2
11.	January 1, 2002	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Mark Philippoussis	6-4, 6-7, 6-3
12.	July 28, 2003	Washington, USA	Hard	Fernando González	6-3, 6-4
13.	October 27, 2003	Paris Masters, France	Carpet	Andrei Pavel	6-2, 7-6, 7-6

Singles finalist

Tennis Masters Series (3)

ATP Tour (14)

1997: Doha, LOST to Jim Courier.
1997: Antwerp, LOST to Marc Rosset.
1998: Sydney, LOST to Karol Kučera.
1998: Los Angeles, LOST to Andre Agassi.
1999: Doha LOST to Rainer Schüttler.
1999: Rotterdam, LOST to Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
1999: London, Queen's Club, LOST to Pete Sampras.
1999: Basel, LOST to Karol Kučera.
2000: Rotterdam, LOST to Cédric Pioline.
2000: Scottsdale, LOST to Lleyton Hewitt.
2000: Cincinnati Masters TMS (Tennis Masters Series), LOST to Thomas Enqvist.
2001: London, Queen's Club, LOST to Lleyton Hewitt.
2002: Indian Wells Masters, LOST to Lleyton Hewitt.
2002: Rotterdam, LOST to Nicolas Escudé.
2002: London, Queen's Club, LOST to Lleyton Hewitt.
2004: Indian Wells Masters, LOST to Roger Federer.
2006: Japan Open Tennis Championships, LOST to Roger Federer.

Doubles record

Titles won

Tennis Masters Series (2)

ATP Tour (2)

Challengers (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	1995	Manchester, UK	Grass	Mark Petchey	Massimo Bertolini & Diego Nargiso	6-3 6-4
2.	1995	Azores, Portugal	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, UK	Carpet	Greg Rusedski	Byron Black & Wayne Ferreira	6-3 7-6
6.	1999	Monte Carlo Masters	Clay	Olivier Delaitre	Jiří Novák & David Rikl	6-2 6-3
7.	2004	Monte Carlo Masters	Clay	Nenad Zimonjić	Gaston Etlis & Martin Rodriguez	7-5 6-2

Doubles finalist

Olympic Games (1)

ATP Tour (1)

1996 Atlanta Olympics with Neil Broad, lost to Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde (Australia)
2000 Rotterdam with Yevgeny Kafelnikov, lost to David Adams and John-Laffnie de Jager, South Africa

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	A	A	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 / 12	42-12
U.S. Open	A	2R	4R	2R	4R	1R	3R	3R	3R	1R	SF	1R	2R		0 / 12	20-12
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	2-4	0-0	N/A	96-46
Tennis Masters Cup	A	A	A	RR	SF	A	A	A	A	A	RR	A	A		0 / 3	4-4
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		N/A	N/A

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

External links