Tim Henman
Tim Henman led British tennis for so many years, making four Wimbledon semi-finals, as the whole country got behind him every year to cheer him on as Wimbledon fever gripped the UK.
After nearly a two year break from the game since his retirement Henman has teamed up with Robinsons and singer Alesha Dixon to encourage youngers all over the country to pick up their rackets and take up tennis.
I caught up with him to talk about this new scheme, his career, returning to Centre Court and what lies ahead for the former world number four.
- You have been working with Robinsons and Alesha Dixon on the run up to Wimbledon can you tell me about it?
Yeah Robinsons supported throughout my entire career and they’ve been involved at Wimbledon forever and we have always done different initiatives each year before the tournament.
This year we thought that we would do something slightly different and work with the queue, people are always queuing and it has become tradition on it’s own, and so Robinsons have set up their own court and I had to train a celebrity who is going to play against people in the queue so for the last couple of week s I’ve been training Alesha Dixon.
- You have bee coaching Alesha she sings, dances, climbs mountains please tell us she was rubbish.
Well she had never played tennis before so she was slightly up against it and because of all those things she is very athletic which definitely made my job much easier. But for just two weeks of tennis she has done really well.
- The pair of you are about to set off around the country to encourage people to play tennis so what do you hope the tour will achieve?
We were in Coventry and Birmingham for the first day and yesterday we were in Nottingham and then Leicester we have been to different clubs and played against kids and then got some practice to Alesha as well, so it’s been good fun. I think really the objective is to encourage kids and families to play tennis because it is a great game and a really healthy, active lifestyle.
And I think if you get kids playing at a young age and they enjoy what they are doing then there’s a better chance of them wanting to play more in the future and always, you know what it’s like around Wimbledon there’s always this massive excitement and the courts are always packed in parks and clubs but then eight weeks later the rackets go away until net year, and we are just trying to encourage people to enjoy it and have some fun and hopefully they will want to keep playing.
- Do you think that tennis not being played in many schools is part of the problem?
Yeah I think it need to be encouraged and schools is a big area that can be targeted and for a sport like tennis you want to make it as accessible as possible so that kids can play and that’s where we want it to be that they can just play in the park or in the garden.
- And how did you get into the game in the first place?
My way into the game was through my family really, my parents played and I have two older brothers and we were all sports made tennis being one of the games that we played, for whatever reason from a very young age I just loved it and if you would have asked me at five or six years old what I was going to be I would have said I was going to be a tennis player., I didn’t know if I was going to be any good but I was going to give it a try.
- You were back at Wimbledon to play under the new roof so how was that and what do you think of the addition to centre court?
It was fantastic. I stopped playing professionally in September 2007 and I hadn’t played for about seventeen months and then I was asked to play in this. It was so much fun to get back on centre court but to play in such a relaxed atmosphere it felt really different, the roof in itself is just amazing and it’s going to be a brilliant addition as the rain delays for the players, viewer, media and fans has always been such a nightmare it will be such an asset for the tournament.
- You retired a couple of years ago so do you miss it? And what have you been up to in that time?
I really don’t miss it at all, and I think that that was emphasised by the fact that I haven’t played for so long, but my family is the best bit, I have three children, and it’s great to be able to spend time with them. But it’s also the freedom of no practice, no training, no travel, no tournaments and suddenly you can have some proper holidays, I’ve been skiing which I was never really allowed to do before in case I broke my leg, yeah just to be at home and chill our really.
- What do you think of British tennis at the moment?
I think that it’s getting better the women’s side has done much much better they have got Anne Keothavong who got into the top fifty and there are four or five girls who have been close to the top one hundred, and that’s a good example of healthy competition.
The men’s, if you take Andy Murray out of the equation, it’s still way too thin there is a big void behind him that needs to be filled. But his performance in the last twelve months has been fantastic he has been playing brilliantly and hopefully he can continue with that.
- Well that leads me into my next question really British expectation is very much solely on the shoulders of Andy Murray, which is also what you faced, how difficult is that a pressure to cope with, particularly with Wimbledon just around the corner?
I think it’s all about your own mindset and the way that you approach that I think if you focused on that and as you are walking on court you’re thinking ’oh my god there are fifteen thousand people in the stadium and fifteen million on TV and all the media and the press’ you are just putting so much pressure on yourself that it would be impossible to play.
Whereas when I was playing there I couldn’t wait to get out there it is the best court in the world to play on and it’s the biggest and best tournament in the world. I always had unbelievable support there and had some really good results I just loved it and so I was much more focused on what I wanted to do and the way that I wanted to play rather than what everyone else was thinking?
- Wimbledon is fast approaching and looking back now what’s your fondest memory of playing there?
(Laughs) It’s tough to narrow it down to one can I give you more that one? I think the first time that I played on centre court, I played against Kafelnikov when he was French Open champion and world number three, I beat him 7-5 in the fifth which was one of my best results at the time.
Then I played on the middle Sunday a couple of times, which has only happened about three times in the history of the tournament and I have played on two of them, they call it people Sunday because it was for fans who had queued to get into the stadium it was just incredible. And I would have to say beating Federer as well, I beat him back in 2001 that was pretty special.
- Have ever considered returning to the game, maybe not as a player but as a coach?
I think in the future I will probably get more involved with it but no not really. If you are going to work with a top player and coach a top player then there is a lot of travel involved with that and that really doesn’t appeal at the moment, but maybe in the future it might be something that could be an option but not at the moment.
- What do think now needs to be done, from a British perspective, to get strength and depth in both the men’s and the women’s side?
I think grass roots is an important area you have got to get more kids playing from a young age and then giving then the opportunity and access to playing in clubs and coaching, and to have the right coaching, then you get the good ones coming trough towards the top of the game.
The problem is the numbers are too small you only really get one or two in each age group when you really want to get eight to twelve kids all pushing along and then you get them competing with each other and it works out much better.
- But if you compare the number of British players finding success compared to the Spanish or the Russian what are they doing that we are not?
I think a lot of it boils down to the individual and I think that some of our players have lacked the hunger and desire and dedication to go out there and make it happen.
The LTA are able to provide a lot of things, sometime the players don’t really deserve, and they almost getting a little bit too easily where as in somewhere like Russia or Argentina they don’t get any funding it’s just about them making it happen and finding a way to achieve that success and I think that is what the players need to look to do.
- And who do you think is going to win Wimbledon?
On the men’s side if it came outside of the top three I think Nadal, Federer and Murray are definite favourites. On the women’s when the Williams sister are healthy and motivated I always think that they are the two to beat.
- And what about the French, bearing in mind that only one of the big four in the men’s draw made it to the semis?
I know that’s why it’s always so interesting to watch because I think, on the men’s side, the strength and depth is just incredible and no one was expecting Nadal to lose and now what an opportunity for Federer. But if you are though to the semis of the French you are not going to have any easy matches so it’s going to be interesting to watch.
- What’s next for you?
I’m playing golf tomorrow morning (laughs). No my commentary for Wimbledon, I’m working for the BBC for two weeks, so that is next thing for me.
- What is it like watching tennis from the other side of the fence as it were?
Yeah it’s pretty relaxed and pretty easy I haven’t lost any matches yet from where I have been sitting (laughs).
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Robinsons, official Wimbledon sponsors, and Tim Henman are training Alesha Dixon in the lead up to the first day of the championships where she will play the queuing public to see if she can have as much success on court as she did on the dance floor. The campaign is designed to encourage families to hit the courts this summer. For more information visit robinsonsdrinks.com/wimbledon
Tagged in Alesha Dixon