Greg Rusedski

Video Rating: 1 / 5

Novak Djokovic vs Andy Murray Great Rally HD 1080p

Video Rating: 5 / 5

Andy Murrays Tweener

Video Score: 4 / 5

Wandsworth Tennis Academy Launch

Video clip Rating: five / 5

Tim Henman – A very British Champion

Hailing from a family of tennis players, it would be apt to say that this British tennis star has got tennis embedded in his genes! Timothy (Henry) Henman is the genius we are talking about. He was born in Oxford, England on 6 September 1974. Anthony, his father was a solicitor and Jane, a dress designer.

When most children were finger-painting at the age of 2 ½ years old, Timothy or better known as Tim, was swinging his tennis racket on the family grass court. Both his parents introduced tennis to Tim and his siblings, Michael and Richard at an early age. His mother herself was a junior Wimbledon competitor. His maternal grandparents, Henry and Susan Billington also played at the Wimbledon. His grandfather represented Britain in the Davis Cup in 1948, 1950-51. His great grandmother, Ellen Stanwell-Brown, was reputedly the first woman to serve over-arm at Wimbledon in 1901.

Tim Henman was privately educated at the Dragon School, Oxford. But Tim had decided on a career in tennis at the age of six itself. He passed his 10 GCSE exams from Reed’s School, Cobham, Surrey, with a tennis scholarship. David Lloyd coached him among many other budding British tennis players in his teen years. He worked his way up the world-ranking ladder to reach top 200 in 1994 and among the top 30 in 1996. The same year he brought home the silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics in the men’s doubles category.

The year 1997 saw him emerge as a class player winning his first ATP tour title in the Sydney international. He has a total of 15 ATP titles, 11 of which are single titles and the rest, doubles. Tim Henman caught the attention of tennis lovers around the world as he made his way to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon 1996 for the first time but lost to Tod Martin. He has appeared in the Wimbledon quarterfinals three times after that and the semi-final four times, but failed each time. Tim Henman is also the first person ever to be disqualified from it in 1995 when he thrashed a ball on the ball girl in a fit. His career was at its peak in july 2002 standing 4^th in the ATP world rankings. In 2004, he became the first British man to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals since Mike Sangster in 1963 and also the US Open semis in 1997 after Greg Rusedski. In 2003 Henman bagged his most prestigious, the first and only ATP Masters Series title, winning the Paris Masters against Andrei Pavel defeating the likes of Andy Roddick and Roger Federer. On June 2004 he was awarded the ‘Officer of Order of British Empire’ for his services to tennis by Queen Elizabeth II.

By 2006, injuries started affecting his tennis career. He announced retirement on 23^rd august 2007 and took to golfing. He served as chairman for the ATP charities and also his personal charity, kids at heart. He married his long time girlfriend, Lucy Heald in 1999 and has three daughters, Rose Elizabeth, Olivia and Grace. He now enjoys a quiet life in London, while fans still continue to see him as Britain’s hope in the Wimbledon.

Laura Robson-A Peek into an Extraordinary Life

A little girl was born in Melbourne, Australia on 21 January 1994 to a professional basketball player and an oil executive. She was named Laura Robson, who according to her parents was a tennis enthusiast from a very young age and couldn’t wait to hold the tennis racket. At the age of six, she moved to UK and a year later she joined the Junior Tennis Academy. The world could not remain oblivious to this little miracle; she got signed by management companies like Adidas, Wilson Sporting Goods etc. at a very early age of ten. She was home schooled while training under Martijn Bok, Carl Maes and Nigel Sears.

Laura Robson plays left handed with a two handed backhand. One of her best qualities is that she hits the ball really hard, which is maybe one of the reasons why she is currently ranked 185. The junior ITF tour in the year 2007 was the first tournament she played and reached the quarterfinals. In the same year she made her appearance at the Wimbledon girls’ event as an unseeded player. She defeated the top seed Melanie Oudin to reach finals where she again defeated Noppawan Lertcheewkarn to claim her first Grand Slam title. She was the first British player to win the title in 23 years. The media called her the “Queen of Wimbledon” and the “new darling“of the British tennis.

A great debut made her a star and won her praises from prominent tennis players. In the year 2008, she made her debut in the senior ITF tour where she had to retire from the tournament due to an injury while playing Marina Melnikova. She was given many wildcard entries but wasn’t very successful until she again entered the ITF tour in Sunderland. She defeated the third seed in the quarterfinals and cleared the next two rounds to win the title at the age of 14. In the year 2009, she entered as a wildcard entrant at the ladies’ singles event of the Wimbledon championships.

Robson also made it into the US open, through wildcard entry in the qualifying tournament but lost in the final round. She had partnered with Andy Murray and had made it into the finals in the Hopman cup. In the year 2010 she also played in the Australian Open as a wildcard entrant. In the same year she also played in Wimbledon, UNICEF open and many others.  In the year 2011, she changed her coach and moved to Paris, making it her new base. Due to injury, she didn’t play in any of the tournaments till March. She had a great comeback though, in the tournament at Indian Harbor beach. She played her best in the semi final, even though she lost.

Laura Robson is a rising star. All the success and the limelight she has had in her career, has definitely not affected the down-to-earth person she is. A person with talent and the right attitude is a rare mix; she is definitely one of the rarest.