About Me

This is where you can find out a bit more about me. In Biography I outline all my personal statistics, tennis highlights and off-court interests and take you through my career.

In Junior Biography I let you in on how I spent the early years of my life – including where I went to school – and how I performed on the British and international junior circuits.

You can also find out why I started the Tim Henman Charitable Foundation and you can read about the various fund-raising events we’ve held by clicking on any of the titles in the dropdown menu above.

Over the years we’ve held two golf days – the 2000 and 2001 Tim Henman Tee Parties – and I’ve been involved in organising two exhibition matches; when Jonas Bjorkman played Stefan Edberg in 2002 and when I faced Rainer Schuettler in 2003. Read about who attended, how much we raised and how the funds were spent.

Forename Tim
Surname Henman
Nickname ‘Henners’
Birthdate 6th September 1974
Birthplace Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Nationality British
Height 6’1 (1.85m)
Weight 170 lbs. (77kg)
Eye Colour Hazel
Resides Oxfordshire, England.
Family I married Lucy on December 11, 1999 and we have three daughters; Rose Elizabeth (Rosie), who was born on October 19 2002, Olivia, who was born on December 15, 2004 and Grace, who was born on September 14, 2007.
Pets We have a black Labrador called Bonnie and Lucy has a horse called Stella.
Interests I love all sports and golf in particular; my handicap is currently four. Lucy and I also enjoy good food and excellent wine.
Charity The Tim Henman Charitable Foundation, which was founded in 2000.
ATP titles 1997 Sydney, Tashkent; 1998 Tashkent, Basel; 2000 Vienna, Brighton; 2001 Copenhagen, Basel; 2002 Adelaide; 2003 Washington DC, TMS Paris

Tim, Lucy and Rose Elizabeth. Pic: Rob Sturges/Getty Images Sport

Retrospective

I began playing tennis at the early age of two-and-a-half with my parents and two older brothers on our family’s court. Tennis has always played a large part in our family as my grandfather, Henry Billington, competed at Wimbledon and reached the third round in 1948, 1950 and 1951.

As a youngster I didn’t just confine myself to playing tennis, I also enjoyed soccer, cricket, rugby and golf. Nowadays I only really have time for an occasional game of golf and the odd game of soccer, though I’ve obviously got to be careful not to get carried off on a stretcher – that’s the excuse I use for not tackling, anyway, much to the disgust of my teammates! I’m currently playing golf off a four handicap but I used to play off three – so I obviously need to get some practice in.

My greatest fear
I think my greatest fear is the loss of my health and to a certain extent you don’t always have control over that. In 1994 I broke my ankle and I couldn’t play for five months and that was the most frustrating time of my career. On a much more serious note I lost two aunts and a grandfather to cancer and obviously that’s not a good thing but it definitely puts life in perspective. Tennis is one of the most important things in my life but it shouldn’t become the ‘be all and end all’, as there are definitely more important things in life.

My bad habits
I crack my knuckles, which isn’t particularly good for me. I’m also capable of putting my clothes on the floor rather than putting them somewhere where they should be.

Being hyperactive
Being hyperactive has its upsides and downsides. I’m never really somebody that feels short of energy so I don’t think I’ve struggled in the past in long matches – that helps on a professional basis. But if you’re flying from London to Australia it certainly doesn’t help much! If you want to go and run around you don’t have too many options on a plane.

Winning
Winning is everything in my profession – it’s all about results at this level and winning definitely motivates me and is what I put in all the hard work for. Losing is the other end of the spectrum totally, but at times it can motivate me too. If I play some tough matches and I lose then that motivates me to work even harder. I’m a very competitive person and I like to win whatever I’m doing.

The media
I think there are times when you can say things, or perhaps you want to say things, and it’s best left unsaid. A good example of that was at Wimbledon in 2001 when I was asked about equal prizemoney for women. I think I gave a pretty well-educated answer, stating that I thought the women had a great product and that they had a lot of stars on their circuit, but that I thought they should be more concerned with the prizemoney levels on their own tour rather than at Grand Slams because the difference between their tour and the Grand Slams was chalk and cheese. So I said if they are asking for even more money in the Grand Slams they are getting a little bit greedy. In hindsight, greedy was the wrong word, because the next morning I arrived fresh for practice and all of a sudden there were photographers outside asking me if I stood by my comments. My reply was :’My comments about what?’ I had no idea what they were talking about and for the next two days it was a total distraction and I definitely didn’t need it. At Wimbledon, the biggest tournament of the year, all the press and most of the female players wanted to talk to me about was equal prizemoney!

My image
I’ve always gone out on court to play my best tennis, and what you see is what you get. I’ve always been fairly calm on the court, because that’s how I feel like I’m going to play my best tennis. A lot of people say that I’m typically British and that’s fine – I definitely don’t have a problem with that – but it’s definitely a case of what you see is what you get.

Unarmed combat
It’s one-on-one, me against my opponent and I go out there and I compete hard. I love the individuality of the game and when I’m out on court there’s no one else that can help, there’s no one that can hinder, so at the end of the day it is going to be the better player on the day that wins and that’s always something that I’ve enjoyed.

My inspiration
At five or six years-of-age, I went to Wimbledon and that was the first time that I saw Bjorn Borg play, and he was a big influence. There was definitely a moment when I was on Centre Court for the first time – I was watching Borg play his first round match and he’d won the four previous years – when I felt that this is where I wanted to be, and at that age I had no idea what winning Wimbledon was going to entail but it definitely wasn’t a case of ‘I want to play out there’, it was much more a case of ‘I want to win out there’. Every time I play at Wimbledon it’s fulfilling a dream – but now I’ve just got to win seven matches in a row.

My childhood heroes
Sifting back through my childhood for memories of one person whose exploits captivated my attention I would have to go for golfer Nick Faldo. More recently, I would have to cite Stefan Edberg as perhaps an even greater tennis influence, not just for his excellence and unflappable temperament, but for the very style in which he played. He was the best exponent of serve and volley in the game, and that is what I have long wanted to become. If tennis was my overriding sporting passion, golf was never far behind, and in more introspective moments I often come to the conclusion that Faldo was almost as crucial to my progression into being whatever I am today as Borg or Edberg. He adopted a stance that basically said he didn’t give a moment’s concern about how other people perceived him, be they opponents or the public at large. He did whatever he believed to be right for his game; whether completely remodelling his swing or remaining oblivious to what was being said or written about him, and not letting it affect his focus on what he was trying to achieve and that’s something I can definitely relate to.

Free spirits
I like Robbie Williams. I wouldn’t say that we’re particularly alike in any way, but I like his attitude and I like his music. I think he’s definitely a free spirit and he does exactly as he pleases, and there are times when I’m sure that backfires on him a little bit, and he perhaps does and says things that he perhaps shouldn’t have done, but I’ve got a lot of respect for his abilities, but also the way he is able to handle himself.

My happiest day
The happiest day was my Wedding Day (December 11 1999), which was a great day. It’s something that I don’t think you can really prepare for because it only happens once, but it definitely turned out to be a very special day. There were only a select few people that we wanted to share the day with, and again I think that reflects my personality. I can understand that when I am on the court and I’m playing there’s going to be a lot of attention which I can accept. However, on a very private occasion like my wedding day then we should be able to do just as we please and we did. It was a very private affair and that’s very much the way we both wanted it to be.

Rosie
Lucy and I had our first baby, Rose Elizabeth, who weighed eight pounds, four ounces, on October 19 2002. We’d both been looking forward to becoming parents for much of the year and it proved to be well worth the wait.

Olivia
Lucy had our second child, Olivia, who weighed eight pounds, one ounce, on December 15 2004 to cap off a fantastic year. Watching Rosie grow up has been a wonderful experience and we feel blessed that she now has a little sister.

Grace
We had our third child, Grace, who weighed eight pounds 11 ounces on Friday September 14 2007. We both feel blessed that we have been lucky enough to have three beautiful children and we couldn’t be happier.