Oxfordshire tennis star Tim Henman's father has died

Tony Henman, a solicitor in Oxford, died last Friday, aged 84.

The family lived in Weston-on-the-Green between Oxford and Bicester where they owned a grass tennis court in their back garden.

Mr Henman Sr headed a battle against developers who hoped to build an 'eco-village' of 15,000 houses on a greenfield site near the village in 2008.

Tim began playing tennis before the age of three with a shortened squash racket.

At this stage, he was already teaching himself how to serve and volley.

British number one for many years during the late 1990s and early 2000s,  he reached the Wimbledon semi-final no less than four times as a singles player.

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He also reached the same stage of both the American and French Open.

Tim, who was a pupil at Oxford's Dragon School, is one of the regular Wimbledon presenters on BBC TV and radio.

In 2022 he visited Manor Primary School in Didcot as part of a Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) Youth Tennis programme to inspire youngsters to get involved in the game. 

Pupils asked Mr Henman a range of questions from his training schedule when he was their age to how many competitions he had won, and whether he had ever regretted leaving school at 16 to play tennis.