Tim Henman: 'We must be patient with Emma Raducanu – she will be around for a long time'

Champions may change but some things remain steadfast institutions of Wimbledon: tennis whites, strawberries and cream and Pimm’s are symbolic of the traditions held dear in SW19. Centre Court is obviously the most iconic location within the All England Club but, whether you have attended in reality or are an armchair fan, Henman Hill comes a close second.

There may have been attempts to rename it Murray Mound when Sir Andy was in his pomp, but to most tennis fans it will forever be synonymous with Tim Henman. Despite never claiming a title at SW19, Henman is also a Wimbledon institution in his own right having sparked the British tennis renaissance, being a member of the All England Club board and his familiar role as a broadcaster for the BBC.

It is easy to forget that the 47-year-old, who built a reputation as the likeable nearly man making four semi-finals, had a rocky introduction to the British public. As a 20-year-old, he became, along with doubles partner Jeremy Bates, the first player in the Open era to be disqualified from Wimbledon.

Henman accidentally hit a ball girl on the side of her head with a ball, having flayed his racket in frustration. As he hit the ball in anger, an automatic disqualification was ruled for unsportsmanlike conduct. The next day Henman presented the ball girl with a bouquet of flowers and his nice-guy persona was born in the media.

The incident was a turning point in his career. “I was the first person ever to be disqualified. And that was obviously not a good moment when I accidentally hit a ball girl with a ball. I remember in 1995 thinking, ‘Wow, I better have some half-decent results [next year] because I don’t want to be remembered as the first person to be disqualified at Wimbledon’.

“And then in 1996, that was when I made the quarter-finals for the first time. And I played my first match on Centre Court and I beat the French Open champion [Yevgeny Kafelnikov].

“That was definitely when my life changed and I became known to the British public and that affiliation with Wimbledon began.”

With that growing love affair with the Championships and fans came a surge in media attention and Henman, despite turning to broadcasting in his retirement, took a pragmatic approach that suited the fierce competitor who knew from the age of six that he wanted to play tennis professionally.

“I learnt pretty early on that I wasn’t interested in reading the media. I sort of worked out that there was the right answer and there was the honest answer. And I think I was sometimes inclined to give the right answer because I felt like it just deflected the attention,” he says. “It wasn’t a popularity contest, I was out there to really focus on my tennis. But people deal with it in different ways. That was probably my defence mechanism.”

He is very much in his element at Wimbledon as he guides a group of young people around as part of HSBC’s World of Opportunity Programme, showcasing the different careers available in sport beyond the tennis court. If he were not to have made it in tennis, he says he would have liked to have been a chef and took particular interest visiting the club’s kitchens.

Henman chuckles when asked about his portrayal as “the nice guy” in the media: “I never cared and I still don’t care. I care about what my family think of me and my friends [think].” It is through old friend Andrew Richardson, who was his best man when he married Lucy, that he got a special insight into Wimbledon’s latest darling, Emma Raducanu.

Richardson was the 19-year-old’s coach for her US Open fairy-tale win.

Henman has a perspective on Raducanu as a character but also calls for patience with her development. “Emma is very bright, she’s very hard-working. She’s fun to be around. She’s got a good sense of humour.

“In the context of our sport, no one had ever qualified and won a grand slam, to do that was incredible.

“We have to be patient, she’s still only 19. Her tennis is amazing, her mentality, her mental fortitude is fantastic. The hardest bit for her is physically playing at such a high level and not really having the opportunity to do the training blocks to give her that physical resilience and robustness. She’ll be around for a long time.”

While tennis fans wait to see what legacy Raducanu will leave on Wimbledon, what is certain is that Sue Barker is another icon of the tournament – just as much for her presenting on the BBC. As she announces this will be her last dance, a special tribute is paid by Henman, who describes her as his “step aunt” after she collected him from Reed’s School in Cobham close to her Esher home as an 11-year-old aspiring player and they played at the same club. “I met Sue a long time ago and she is a great friend. She has been an amazing tennis player and broadcaster. We’ll all massively miss her.”

One gets the impression that at the conclusion of this fortnight Henman could be making another famous bouquet presentation.

Tim Henman hosted HSBC’s World of Opportunity Programme at Wimbledon showcasing the different career opportunities available in sport beyond the court