Tim Henman

Tim Henman, OBE (born September 6, 1974 in Oxford, England) is the first British tennis player since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the semi-finals of the Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship, and is regarded by his fans (whose devotion is known as "Henmania") as the UK's only hope of winning the tournament, a feat last achieved by Fred Perry in 1936.

Henman comes from a sporting family: his father was adept 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.

While still at school, Henman was diagnosed with Osteochondritis, a bone disease. 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.

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. 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.

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.