Tim Henman, the British No I, was born at Oxford in England, and since childhood has shown great promise in his chosen sport. He is renowned as a very sporting player and has a very elegant game, with a good serve and a good volley, and is very nimble on the court. Tim has already won a number of ATP tour events and has reached the semi finals of Wimbledon, three times, twice losing to Pete Sampras and in the 2001 Championships to the eventual winner, Goran Ivanisevic, in a hard fought five set battle.In those championships Tim was seeded sixth.
Few experts deny that Tim is other than a fine player and is one of the world’s top grass court players. He ranks along with Pete Sampras, Pat Rafter, Andre Agassi and Goran Ivanisevic, as having a game very well suited for grass.
Britain’s hopes were firmly pinned on Tim to get to the final at Wimbledon-once again those hopes were blown away by the powerful serve and volley of Goran Ivanisevic. Unfortunately, Britain has not had a Wimbledon men’s champion since the 1930’s when Fred Perry won the title.Just about the whole British population were ’’willing’’ Tim on and expecting hime to win the tournament. Perhaps the expectations placed on Tim’s shoulders were a bit too much.
However, I feel that Tim should not yet be written off. He has times on his side, Pete Sampras, his nemesis, wont be around for ever and it seems likely that Pat Rafter will soon retire. Tim has the ability to win the Wimbledon title, his critics, however, question whether he is not a bit too self effacing and perhaps lacks the ’’killer Instinct’. Time will tell whether the critics happen to be correct !