In Praise of ... Tim Henman

Reports of Tim Henman's retirement were briskly denied by the Lawn Tennis Association yesterday. Yet, at 32 and with a dodgy back, Tiger Tim's last exit from competitive tennis cannot now be far off. As the sport's ATP website bleakly reminds us, for him 2007 has been a year without highlights. For some, any mention of Mr Henman merely offers a pretext to be rude and a chance to repeat the line that "Come on, Tim" may be the three most depressing words in the English language. All this, though, says more about the critics than about Mr Henman. A better response is simply to celebrate the fact that he is Britain's best male tennis player since the second world war. No, he never did win that elusive Wimbledon singles title, but then nor did Bobby Wilson, Mike Sangster, Roger Taylor and the rest of the stretching line of aspiring first-since-Fred-Perrys. Consider, too, that the years at the top mostly coincided with those of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, two of the greatest champions of all time. Reflect, instead, on the unmatched post-Perry consistency of Mr Henman's four Wimbledon semi-finals in five years and seven quarter-finals in eight. Don't ignore, either, the 11 singles titles he did win, the 38-14 record in the Davis Cup and the nearly 500 singles victories in 14-years. OK, so Tim and Lucy live in Oxfordshire with their children and a black labrador and Tim likes golf and fine wines. What, actually, is so objectionable about that? Answer: nothing whatever. Ignore them, Tim. The rest of us will miss you.