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Tim Henman (born September 6, 1974) in Oxford,
England, is a tennis player who has come considerably close several times to
be the first Englishman to win the Wimbledon championships since the 1930s.
Henman comes from a family of sports people: His father was a practitioner
of various sports, including tennis. His grandfather and great-grandfather
also competed at Wimbledon.
Henman was a member, from the age of 10 to the age of 17, of the David Lloyd
Slater Squad, where he trained alongside some other young British tennis
prospects.
Henman as a youngster was diagnosed with Osteochondritis, a bone disease.
However, he kept playing tennis. In 1992, he won the National Junior titles
in singles and doubles, deciding to join the professional tour in 1993.
He climbed off the ranks almost immediately: In 1994, he was among the best
200 players of the world, in 1995, among the best 100, and by 1996, he had
made it to the top 30. He was England's highest ranked player that year, and
he won the Most Improved Player trophy at the ATP awards. He was selected to
the tour's Player Council that year, and won his first championship in
January, 1997. Later that year, he had surgery.
In 1998, year in which he reached Wimbledon's semi-finals for the first
time, he was one of the top 10 ATP ranked players. In 1999, Henman, who also
enjoys golfing, married Lucy Heald.
Henman has been just short of winning the Wimbledon tournament various times
over recent years, also reaching the semi-finals in 1999, 2000, 2001 and
2002. In 2003, he was ousted from the tournament during the quarter-finals.
Many British fans still believe Henman eventually will be the first
Englishman in almost 60 years to win the Wimbledon title. |
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