80 Facts About Tim Henman

Timothy Henry Henman was born on 6 September 1974 and is a British former professional tennis player.

Tim Henman was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in the 1970s.

Tim Henman was the British No 1 player in 1996 and again from 1999 to 2005, at which point he was overtaken by Andy Murray.

Tim Henman reached a career-high ranking of world No 4 three different times between July 2002 and October 2004.

Tim Henman is one of the most successful British players of the Open Era, winning $11,635,542 prize money.

Tim Henman started playing tennis before the age of three, and began systematic training in the Slater Squad at eleven.

Tim Henman rose quickly up the ATP rankings, and by 1996 had reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.

For most of his career, Tim Henman was considered a grass court specialist, reaching four Wimbledon semifinals in the five years between 1998 and 2002.

Tim Henman became comfortable on clay and hard courts only later in his career, when in 2004 he reached the semifinals of both the French and US Opens.

Tim Henman retired from professional tennis in late 2007, but remains active on the ATP Champions Tour.

Tim Henman was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, as the youngest of a family of three boys.

Tim Henman grew up in Weston-on-the-Green, Oxfordshire, a village between Oxford and Bicester with a population of around 500.

Tim Henman began playing tennis before the age of three with a shortened squash racket.

At an early stage in his life, Tim Henman decided if he did not succeed in tennis, he would become a golfer instead.

Tim Henman attended the Longbridge School for boys between the ages of five and seven, and was enrolled in the private Dragon School in Oxford from seven to 11.

Tim Henman excelled in all sports but was always best at tennis.

Tim Henman remains to this day the only pupil who has won both the school's junior and senior tennis tournaments in the same year.

Tim Henman left the Dragon School after he attained a scholarship for Reed's School in Cobham, Surrey.

Tim Henman received the scholarship after a physical test: to run until you dropped.

Tim Henman was picked up by the Slater Squad, a group funded by financier Jim Slater, at the age of 11.

In contrast to popular belief, Tim Henman was not considered the best of the bunch, and Sue Barker, the British 1976 French Open Women's champion, judged that there was "nothing particularly special in his game in those days".

Tim Henman notes that while Henman did not have the natural skills of a tennis player, he was "a hard worker".

Not long after becoming a member of the Slater Squad, Tim Henman was diagnosed with osteochondritis, a bone disease.

Tim Henman was unable to play tennis for six months, and it was two years before he could return to tournaments.

Luckily for Tim Henman, Slater kept funding him while he was recuperating, because of insistence from Lloyd who believed in Tim Henman's tennis abilities.

At the age of 17, Tim Henman toured South America for eight weeks.

On 11 December 1999, Henman married his longtime girlfriend, TV producer Lucy Heald, in Hampshire.

Tim Henman reached the quarter-finals in the New South Wales Championship with Richardson, and won the Midland Bank Junior Championship in doubles with Jamie Delgado, an associate from the Slater Squad days.

In 1992 he turned 18, and Tim Henman began his tennis career in the senior satellite tournaments.

From July 1992 to July 1993, Tim Henman grew six inches to six feet one, and went from seven stones to nine stones in weight.

Tim Henman started the 1994 season with the four-legged Indian satellite circuit; there he won 18 singles matches in a row.

Tim Henman was fairly successful at the British Satellite Masters in Croydon, and by the end of the tournament he was ranked 222nd in the world.

Tim Henman entered the Nagoya Open, and defeated eighth seed Eyal Ran in the first round, but lost in the second round to Gouichi Motomura.

Tim Henman received a wildcard for the Manchester Open, where he lost in the first round to American Alex O'Brien, and the Wimbledon Championship, the first Grand Slam he had ever played.

Tim Henman reached the semi-finals at the Bristol Open and the fourth round at the Winnetka Open.

Tim Henman lost in the second round to Korean Kim Nam-hoon, who was ranked outside the top 700.

Tim Henman was forced to retire in the third set against Wilkinson when he fell and received a blow to his leg.

When he returned to England not long after the tournament, it was revealed that Tim Henman had broken his ankle in three places and would not play another tournament until February 1995.

That year's grass season would prove highly successful for Tim Henman; he reached the semi-finals at the Annenheim Open, later at the Queen's Club Championship he reached the second round after defeating German Martin Sinner, and in Nottingham he reached the quarter-finals, his first quarter-final in the ATP tour.

Two days later he partnered Jeremy Bates in the first round of the doubles at Wimbledon but the pair became the first players in the Open era to be defaulted at Wimbledon after Tim Henman accidentally hit a ballgirl on the side of head with a ball, having lashed out with his racket in frustration after losing a point to a net cord in the fourth set tie-break of their match against Jeff Tarango and Henrik Holm.

Tim Henman was very apologetic about the incident, presenting the girl with a bunch of flowers.

The rest of the grass season was fairly successful for Tim Henman, he appeared at the Manchester Open and reached the semi-final at the Newcastle Open.

Tim Henman participated in the RCA Championships and defeated 16th seed Frenchmen Cedric Pioline, the 1993 US Open finalist, in straight sets.

Tim Henman lost the following round, but was later able to qualify for the US Open.

Tim Henman was the UK's highest-ranked player that year, and won the Most Improved Player trophy at the ATP awards.

Tim Henman was elected to the ATP Tour Player Council and went on to win his first championship in January 1997.

Tim Henman won his first ATP Tour title in January 1997, beating Carlos Moya at the Sydney International event.

Tim Henman was seeded 14th at Wimbledon, and again reached the quarter-final, defeating reigning champion and 4th seed Richard Krajicek in the fourth round before falling to 1991 champion Michael Stich.

Tim Henman came close to reaching the final on a number of occasions, losing in the semi-finals to the eventual champion in 1998,1999,2001 and 2002.

In 2000 Tim Henman reached the fourth round at Wimbledon; and in 1996,1997,2003 and 2004 he lost in the quarter-finals.

Tim Henman 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.

Tim Henman became well known for the Henman fist, which would become his trademark on winning a point.

Tim Henman started the 2001 ATP season with a ranking of tenth in the world.

At the Adelaide International Tim Henman lost in the semi-finals to Nicolas Massu.

Tim Henman then won the Copenhagen Open, dispatching Andreas Vinciguerra in two sets.

Tim Henman then lost in the second round of the Rotterdam Open.

The hard court season wrapped up with the Miami Masters where Tim Henman lost in round two to Fabrice Santoro.

Tim Henman reached the second round of the Estoril Open, the quarter-finals of Monte-Carlo, round two in Rome, and lost in round one at the Hamburg Masters.

At the French Open Tim Henman had wins over Tomas Behrend and Sjeng Schalken, but lost to Guillermo Canas in five sets in round three.

Many commentators believed Tim Henman had a chance to win that year's Wimbledon with several top-seeds being defeated early in the tournament.

Tim Henman came through the first three rounds with ease, winning over Artem Derepasko, Martin Lee, and Sjeng Schalken.

Tim Henman had got as close as 2 points from victory but serve was with his opponent and he was not able to hang on.

Tim Henman lost in the quarter-finals, again to Kuerten in three sets.

At the US Open he reached the third round; Tim Henman defeated Vacek and Fernando Meligeni, but was upset by Xavier Malisse in five sets.

In 2002, Henman reached the 4th round at the Australian Open and the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the last time in his career, losing this time to Lleyton Hewitt: for the fourth time, his conqueror in the semi-finals went on to win the tournament.

Tim Henman was defeated in the second round of the French Open, and the third round of the US Open.

At the ATP tour, Tim Henman was the runner-up at three finals; at one ATP Masters Series, at one ATP 500 Series and at one normal ATP tournament.

Tim Henman did not participate in the 2003 Australian Open, reached the third round in the French Open, his best so far, reached the quarter-finals at the Wimbledon Championship and lost in the first round at the US Open to eventual champion Andy Roddick.

In 2004, Tim Henman failed to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open and failed to reach the semi-finals at the Wimbledon Championships.

Tim Henman now decided to withdraw from the Davis Cup to concentrate on his own career.

Tim Henman returned in time to enter Masters Series events in Indian Wells and Miami after withdrawing from Rotterdam and Zagreb but lost in the first round in both of them.

An early loss at a grass court event in Nottingham was followed up with a poor showing at Wimbledon, with Tim Henman losing in the second round to Feliciano Lopez in five sets.

Tim Henman announced at a press conference on 23 August 2007 that he would retire from tennis after playing in the US Open and Britain's Davis Cup tie against Croatia in September 2007.

Tim Henman seemed sluggish compared to his first-round match, he served for the first set but could not close it out and lost the tiebreaker.

Tim Henman played his final match in the Davis Cup tie against Croatia on 22 September 2007.

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.

Tim Henman became part of the commentary team for the BBC coverage of the 2008 Wimbledon Championships and has remained there since.

Tim Henman took part in a test event for the adoption of the centre court roof in May 2009, playing mixed doubles with Kim Clijsters against husband and wife team Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.

Tim Henman created his own foundation, called The Tim Henman Foundation, which is to help disadvantaged children.

Tim Henman's clothing was manufactured by Adidas and he wore Adidas Equipment Barricade shoes.