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Lovely Illumanating Tim Article in Sunday Times IP: 2.101.94.12 Posted on October 13, 2015 at 09:02:03 PM by Linda
Hi there
I would have attached this article or copied and pasted it but alas, it is behind a paywall and so, I have copy typed it. (Didn't take me long, I type fast!).
There are two nice photos of Tim with this article - one of him now, he's dressed in white jeans, navy shirt and light blue jumper, and one of him (in black and white) as a very young boy - with sharp and hungry eyes, playing tennis.
Jean - I will post the article to you tomorrow.
Here we go:-
Sunday Times 11/10/15
TIME AND PLACE
Tim Henman
I started playing tennis when I was three, and my mum took me to my first Wimbledon when I was six. As I sat there watching Bjorn Borg, I made my one and only career decision – “Mum, I’m going to be a tennis player.”
There was a lot of tennis in my life – both my parents played, and I played at school- but at 11, I was offered the chance to join the David Lloyd/Jim Slater programme. That meant leaving my school in Oxfordshire and boarding at Reed’s, an independent boys’ school in Cobham, Surrey.
That’s a big change for an 11-year-old. I remember arriving at Reed’s at the start of term and thinking, “Wow, my mum’s not going to be there when I wake up.” I was scared, but the tennis was so important to me that nothing else mattered. We stayed in dorms, with about 10 guys in each room. They had bunk beds and a little desk area which you could do your homework; I’m sure my bit of wall would have had a Bjorn Borg poster on it.
I lay in bed that first night and, even at that young age, I knew it was the first day of the rest of my life, a completely new beginning. Different people have different experiences of boarding schools. I woke up the next morning, started chatting to other kids, had my breakfast. Then it dawned on me – no parents, hanging out with kids my age, playing tennis. This was going to be brilliant.
My school day was much the same as any school day. Lessons until quarter past three, school dinners (I was never a fan of school dinners – I did miss my mum’s cooking) and homework. But every day also included two hours of tennis. While the other lads were playing football or rugby, the David Lloyd bunch were driven down to the tennis centre. David Loosemore and Marc Moreso were there at the same time as me, and Jamie Delgado, who went on to play Andre Agassi at Wimbledon.
I found out a lot about myself at Reed’s. I realised I was a fighter. I wouldn’t give up. The tennis coaching was all about pushing you as far as you could go – they wanted to see who would come back for more. I made sure I was always the first in the queue. “I can take it. Show me what you’ve got.” I got a lot of that from my dad. His attitude has always been, if you aren’t going to bother trying your hardest, you’re probably not going to succeed. He’s 75, but he still plays lots of sport, and he is the world’s most competitive dad. Even today, he hates me beating him at tennis.
Did I ever get into trouble at school? Not really. I was a good kid, very focused on tennis. If I started messing around and missing lessons, I knew my tennis would suffer. Academically, I did OK. I got eight or nine GCSEs. I wanted to make sure I had the qualifications, just in case the tennis didn’t work out. I knew how hard it was to make it, so I needed to have a backup plan.
I don’t want to give the impression that my parents had no part to play in those five years at Reed’s. While I was there, I had their 100% support. If there was a tournament in Bristol or Edinburgh, they were there. If I needed driving to Birmingham, no problem. It’s only now I’ve got three kids that I realise their sacrifices. If your child has a passion, you have to let them follow that passion, but you also need to be a taxi service. My lot play tennis, but none of them has shown any interest in taking it up professionally. I’m kind of glad – with that surname, it was never going to be easy.
I still go back to Reed’s and I support their Tennis Academy through my foundation. Every time I walk through the door, I think back to one of the happiest times in my life. That school was where I shaped my future. It’s where I became me.
Interview by Danny Scott
Tim Henman will join John McEnroe and Pat Cash for Champions Tennis at the Royal Albert Hall, London SW7, December 2 -6;
Royalalberthall.com/tennis