Tim Henman

In 1901 his maternal great-grandmother, Ellen Stanwell-Brown, was reputedly the first woman to serve overarm at Wimbledon.

His maternal grandfather, Henry Billington, played at Wimbledon between 1948 and 1951, and he represented Britain in the Davis Cup in 1948, 1950 and 1951.

His maternal grandmother, Susan Billington, appeared regularly at Wimbledon in the 1950s, playing mixed doubles on Centre Court with her husband Henry, reaching the third round of the ladies' doubles in 1951, 1955 and 1956.

Henman grew up in Weston-on-the-Green, Oxfordshire, a village between Oxford and Bicester with a population of around 500.

At home, the family owned a grass tennis court in their back garden.

Henman began playing tennis before the age of three with a shortened squash racket.

At this stage, he was already teaching himself how to serve and volley.

At an early stage in his life, Henman decided if he did not succeed in tennis, he would become a golfer instead.

Henman attended the Longbridge School for boys between the ages of five and seven, and was enrolled in the private Dragon School in Oxford from seven to 11.

He excelled in all sports but was always best at tennis.

But Henman was small for his age, a factor which would bode against him in the future.

He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in the 1970s.

Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player.

Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis.

In 1985, he was appointed the school's captain of tennis and led the school's tennis team to win 21 out of 27 matches.

He remains to this day the only pupil who has won both the school's junior and senior tennis tournaments in the same year.

From the age of eight until his introduction to the Slater Squad, Henman received coaching from the David Lloyd (tennis) Centre, where he was given personal lessons by former professional player Onny Parun from New Zealand.

In retrospect, Parun stated that Henman's greatest strength "had always been his head."

David Lloyd noticed the same mental toughness and was impressed.

He left the Dragon School after he attained a scholarship for Reed's School in Cobham, Surrey.

Henman received the scholarship after a physical test: to run until you dropped.

Henman, along with Marc Moreso and David Loosemore, did not drop, and was given a scholarship.

At this point in his life, Lloyd persuaded Henman's parents to allow him to pursue a tennis career.

Henman was the British No. 1 player in 1996 and again from 1999 to 2005, at which point he was overtaken by Andy Murray.

He rose quickly up the ATP rankings, and by 1996 had reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.

For most of his career, Henman was considered a grass court specialist, reaching four Wimbledon semifinals in the five years between 1998 and 2002.

He also achieved considerable success on hard courts early in his career, with his first title on the top tier ATP tour won in Sydney with a straight sets win over Carlos Moya.

He reached a career-high ranking of world No. 4 three different times between July 2002 and October 2004.

He is one of the most successful British players of the Open Era, winning $11,635,542 prize money.

Henman reached six major semifinals and won 15 career ATP Tour titles (eleven in singles and four in doubles), including the 2003 Paris Masters.

He also earned a 40–14 win-loss record with the Great Britain Davis Cup team.

In the 2004 New Year Honours, he was appointed an OBE.

Henman started playing tennis before the age of three, and began systematic training in the Slater Squad at eleven.

After suffering a serious injury which affected him for the better part of two years, he began touring internationally as a junior and achieved some successes.

He became comfortable on clay only later in his career, when in 2004 he reached the semifinals of the French.

Henman retired from professional tennis in late 2007, but remains active on the ATP Champions Tour (a tour for former professional tennis players).

Henman was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, as the youngest of a family of three boys.

Henman's father Anthony, a solicitor, was accomplished at various sports, including tennis, hockey and squash.

His mother Jane, a dress designer, played Junior Wimbledon and introduced Tim and his elder brothers, Michael and Richard, to tennis as soon as they could walk on the family's grass tennis court.

His great-grandfather played at Wimbledon.