Top 110 Quotes & Sayings by Tim Henman
Explore popular quotes and sayings by a British tennis player Tim Henman.
Last updated on December 3, 2024.
If you'd asked me when I was 18 if I'd be happy being in the top 100 male players for 10 years, I'd have taken that like a shot. As it turned out I was top five for a decade.
I was part of the David Lloyd Academy and when I was 16-17 years old I got to practise with Stefan Edberg and that really helped me.
I still remember playing my first Challenger tournament in Hong Kong in 1990, and the prize fund was $50,000.
I love the Dunhill Links and I absolutely love playing golf in Scotland.
People will be surprised to learn that I've got a sense of humour.
When you see players coming into the new season with injuries and already carrying strapping on various parts of their bodies in January, then it only serves to highlight how hard the sport is and how demanding the schedule can be. There really isn't an off-season and that's the nature of the beast.
It's a fact of life that there will always be people who try to cut corners.
A professional notices any small change to their racket, whether it's something a bit different to the grip, the strings or the frame.
I had eight consecutive years in the top 20 and five of those were in the top 10. That's something I'm very proud of. And the way that I played some of my matches at Wimbledon was also very special.
There are no grey areas with commitment, you're either in or you are out; 95 per cent doesn't work. I didn't have that much talent as a kid, but I worked at it, all hours known to man.
Volleying comes into grass-court tennis because it's a surface that favours the player who gets on the front foot. So if you've got an opportunity to come in and be aggressive, then finishing the points at the net is always going to be a good strategy.
A professional's racket is such a personal thing, and it's the tool of your trade.
Returning serve on clay is not easy because you don't always have a sure footing so you can't push off in the way that you would like.
My children can really understand the Olympic Games, To have a medal is very, very special.
I think in terms of how my game developed on clay that was amazing.
My life on the tour was very structured.
A lot of clay court players want rhythm. They want the time to play from the baseline, and it's about preventing them from having that.
I'm a private person. I don't want to write a book because I know the story and feel no need to tell it to anyone else.
I've worked hard ever since I was that 18-year-old kid who travelled to South America and India to play small tournaments in the hope of cracking the top 200.
People need to know that they can make a living. We are losing a lot of the best athletes to other sports at the age of seven or eight, which is exactly the time when you want to get a racket into their hand.
The Olympics had never really been on my agenda. I had been a huge sports fan growing up, But it never really occurred to me that I would have a chance to participate.
People sometimes come up to me and call me Tiger Tim. Why am I called that? I don't know, it starts with T and I don't know. It has stuck.
No question, when you're talking about Grand Slams, they're the pinnacle of the game, and that's what I want to be winning.
Wimbledon is quite simply the ultimate championship, and I'd be the first to admit it was the one I wanted to win. A lot has to do with the history and the tradition: the grass courts, the royal box, the grand spectacle of it all.
Quarter-finals is good at a Grand Slam, but I think we want to go farther.
I love a rack of lamb with a good bottle of red wine.
Everyone deals with pressure in different ways.
I wasn't really allowed to ski during my career because it was too risky in terms of potential injuries.
I was always single-minded, never thinking about what was being said or written about me.
I can't slow the degeneration in my back.
I never envisaged how much I'd enjoy just being at home, with the kids, playing loads of golf.
I had a shoulder problem during my career when I changed my service action and needed an operation.
From the age of 6 to 33, I was utterly driven and single-minded.
People ask me if I would like my children to play tennis, and I'm, like, 'Hmm. Maybe not.' And that's a bit strange.
You cannot play every week, and a couple of weeks away is vital. When you look at Federer's record and the number of Slams he has competed in, it highlights how he plans so far in advance.
I know I'm not the best tennis player there's ever been, but calling me a loser is just ignorance.
I've never been interested in the whole fame game; the headlines when I was disqualified in 1995 for hitting a ball girl were more than enough to make me want to keep my head under the radar.
The players that always used to frighten me were the big servers so someone like John Isner if he gets on a roll with his serve, can be a nightmare to play against.
I really do appreciate how lucky I am.
Movement on clay is totally different to every other surface and you have to have that balance and understanding of how to slide.
I felt very fortunate that I was able to retire in the circumstances that I did.
You don't give someone a first serve, if there is a bad linecall you take it, because you are going to get bad linecalls.
A lot of British players had more potential than me. But they slipped away.
If success is measured in maximising your potential and giving 100 per cent to what you do, enjoying it and making a good living then I'm very happy with what I've achieved. If other people wanted more than that from me, what could I do?
I heard there was a bit of talk that there might be a second 'Wedding Crashers' film. It would certainly get my support.
Yes, there are times where I might play one bad service game a set. If you look at Sampras, he might play one slightly suspect service game every three sets. So to beat someone like that you've obviously got to be right on top of your game. I've basically got to get rid of that in my game so it makes me very difficult to beat.
I think the women's game is a bit different to the men's. They mature at a much younger age in the women's game.
The side of me you see when I'm having a laugh is not the one most conducive to playing my best tennis.
Dealing with the press it was pretty obvious there was a right answer and there was an honest answer. I think quite a lot of the time I gave the right answer. That was my defence mechanism.
I was always passionate about what I was doing, and loved the game.
For 15 years, I very rarely read anything about myself.
Clay is so challenging as a surface because you want to be playing aggressively but the margins are so small and it's easy to get the balance wrong and start making errors. Getting your movement right and preparing correctly to hit your shots is key.
It's always fun catching up with the other players because so many of them were really good mates when I was playing on the main tour. The thing you miss when you give up is that camaraderie that you experienced because, for 35 weeks of the year, it really is a travelling circus.
The players should appreciate how lucky they are with the opportunities they've got, and they've got to get out there and maximise that. That's what success is about and unfortunately in British tennis there are too many people over the years who haven't maximised their potential.
If there has been any match-fixing then we need to make sure that it's erased from our sport because it's a crime in sports. We have no place for it in any sport let alone tennis.
Sunday lunch is always pretty social.
Players need to look at their own tours, which are run separately from the slams, and ask why they haven't improved the funds on offer.
The ATP is a difficult structure, it is 50% players, 50% tournaments. And so if you are the chairperson of that organization, it's very difficult to please everyone.
I've realised I've hit enough tennis balls to last me a lifetime.
I would say, hand on heart, I probably had a very good relationship with the press. The tennis journalists that followed me throughout my career... sure, you know, we had a few bumps in the road, if you like, but that's what you're paid to do.
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