Henman Finishes With a Flourish As Britain See Off Croatia

Tim Henman brought a fitting end to his competitive career at the All England Club today by steering Great Britain back into the Davis Cup World Group for the first time in four years. Henman teamed up with Jamie Murray to win the doubles rubber 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 over Croatia's Marin Cilic and Lovro Zovko and secure his nation an unassailable 3-0 lead with two rubbers remaining.

The capacity Court One crowd rose to acclaim Henman after his whipped cross-court forehand converted Great Britain's first match point and sealed a thoroughly convincing two-day victory.

"I've had a few good scripts over the past few years but it's just fantastic," said Henman. "For me to finish with Britain back in the World Group is perfect. It's been an unbelievable journey for me. I've fulfilled so many of my dreams." Coach John Lloyd added: "To get to 3-0 after two days is great. The boys played magnificently. You couldn't have scripted it any better."

Henman showed the composure which has sustained him through the best part of 13 Wimbledon summers, celebrating with fist-pumps to the sky as the fans chanted his name. Henman, who had never previously played competitively with the elder Murray, had been given the chance to go out on another high after bringing his singles career to a close with a straight-sets win over Roko Karanusic yesterday.

But even though the occasion dictated a routine victory for the British pair, Cilic and Zovko were determined the spoil the send-off and stretch this World Group play-off into a final day. Rising star Cilic, who had pushed Andy Murray to five sets on Friday, delivered an inch-perfect lob to break Jamie Murray at the crucial point of the first set and give Croatia a shock advantage.

Murray, who had made his Davis Cup debut against Holland in April, after which, ironically, Greg Rusedski also retired, seemed nervous and it was clear the 33-year-old Henman's experience was keeping them in the tie. Murray had to wriggle out of two further break points at 1-2 down in the second set, another audacious Cilic lob this time sailing inches long and allowing the Scot to breathe again.

It took an hour for Great Britain to fashion their first break point on the Croatian serve and they took full advantage with Henman depositing a backhand volley at the net to take a 4-3 advantage, and subsequently serve out to level the tie. Showing every sign of developing into a top-level player for the future, Cilic in particular maintained his consistency and gave Croatia the breakthrough in the third set by breaking Murray again for a 4-2 lead.

The gutsy British pair immediately responded by breaking back to love and the set drifted into a tie-break, in which they made a sound start and wrapped up with big Murray serve to move one set from victory. Again Croatia, with doubles specialist Zovko finding his range on his serve again, refused to be give up and had their chances in the fourth set, not least a rare break point on the Henman serve at 2-2.

They failed to convert either of two further opportunities on the Murray serve two games later but the British pair spurned two chances of their own in the following game, which would have enabled Henman to serve out for the match. But when Cilic served to keep Croatia in the tie at 5-6, Henman and Murray would not be denied. With his last act as a professional tennis player, Henman swung a forehand cross-court and sent Great Britain back into the World Group.