I'm not British, but I still caught a case of Henmania in the late 90s through the 2000s when Tim Henman was Great Britain's real hope of having a Wimbledon championship. He had many years of semifinal and quarterfinal finishes and thrilled fans with his serve and volley game. But there seemed to always be guys named Pete and Roger in his way and the year he had his best chance, in 2001, he lost a heart-breaker over two days to Goran.
Earlier today, in the Wimbledon warm-up event, Henman suffered the kind of loss that makes you think retirement would be best. Croatian wild card Marin Cilic defeated Henman 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-4 in what was his first ATP Tour-level victory since July 2006. Henman has won only one match on the tour this year.
In contrast, Andy Roddick is a young guy who still has a strong chance of winning at Wimbledon where he has been twice the runner-up and another time a semifinalist. Roddick lost only four points on his serve Tuesda in beating Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the third round of the Queen's Club grass-court championships. The American has lost just one match in his past four appearances at the Wimbledon warm-up event, winning three straight titles before losing to James Blake in the 2006 semifinals.
If Roddick stays in form and Roger Federer remains dispirited post the French Open, you never know what might happen at Wimbledon this year.
One thing is for sure, it won't be Henman's year. Still, hat's off to gentleman Tim for always being a class act.