Editing Tim Henman (section)

== Early life ==
Henman was born in [[Oxford]], [[Oxfordshire]], as the youngest of a family of three boys. Henman's father Anthony, a solicitor, was accomplished at various sports, including tennis, [[Field hockey|hockey]] and [[Squash (sport)|squash]]. His mother Jane, a dress designer, played Junior Wimbledon and introduced Tim and his elder brothers, Michael and Richard, to tennis as soon as they could walk on the family's grass tennis court. His great-grandfather played at Wimbledon.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|pp=3–4}} His maternal grandfather, [[Henry Billington]], played at Wimbledon between 1948 and 1951, and he represented Britain in the [[Davis Cup]] in 1948, 1950 and 1951.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|pp=1–3}} 

In 1901 his maternal great-grandmother, Ellen Stanwell-Brown, was reputedly the first woman to serve overarm at Wimbledon. His maternal grandmother, Susan Billington, appeared regularly at Wimbledon in the 1950s, playing mixed doubles on [[Centre Court]] with her husband Henry, reaching the third round of the ladies' doubles in 1951, 1955 and 1956.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|pp=2–3}}

Henman grew up in [[Weston-on-the-Green]], [[Oxfordshire]], a village between Oxford and [[Bicester]] with a population of around 500. At home, the family owned a grass tennis court in their back garden.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=4}} Henman began playing tennis before the age of three with a shortened squash racket. At this stage, he was already teaching himself how to [[Serve (tennis)|serve]] and [[Volley (tennis)|volley]].{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=5}} At an early stage in his life, Henman decided if he did not succeed in tennis, he would become a golfer instead.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=6}}

Henman attended the Longbridge School for boys between the ages of five and seven, and was enrolled in the private [[Dragon School]] in [[Oxford]] from seven to 11. He excelled in all sports but was always best at tennis. But Henman was small for his age, a factor which would bode against him in the future. In 1985, he was appointed the school's captain of tennis and led the school's tennis team to win 21 out of 27 matches. He remains to this day the only pupil who has won both the school's junior and senior tennis tournaments in the same year.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=8}} From the age of eight until his introduction to the Slater Squad, Henman received coaching from the [[David Lloyd (tennis)|David Lloyd]] Tennis Centre, where he was given personal lessons by former professional player [[Onny Parun]] from New Zealand. In retrospect, Parun stated that Henman's greatest strength "had always been his head."{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=9}} David Lloyd noticed the same mental toughness and was impressed.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=9}}

He left the Dragon School after he attained a scholarship for [[Reed's School]] in [[Cobham, Surrey]]. Henman received the scholarship after a physical test: to run until you dropped. Henman, along with Marc Moreso and David Loosemore, did not drop, and was given a scholarship. At this point in his life, Lloyd persuaded Henman's parents to allow him to pursue a tennis career.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=10}} In retrospect, Lloyd notes, Henman's parents understood what many don't: "you can always go back to higher education at 22 or 23 but that that is far too late to start a serious tennis career."{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=10}}

Henman was picked up by the Slater Squad, a group funded by financier [[Jim Slater (accountant)|Jim Slater]], at the age of 11. The main goal of the Slater Squad was to pick and coach young players from the ages of nine or ten, instead of 11 and 12 as the [[Lawn Tennis Association]] (LTA) did.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|pp=13–16}} The original intake for the squad was eight players between the ages of eight and 11. In addition to Tim, the squad consisted of [[Jamie Delgado]], Gary Le Pla, Paul Jessop, James Bailey, Adrian Blackman, [[James Davidson (tennis)|James Davidson]] and Marc Moreso. In the squad, Henman worked on tennis three hours a day: two hours playing tennis and receiving advice from Donald Watt, and the last hour on gymnastics and learning about the game.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=17}} In contrast to popular belief, Henman was not considered the best of the bunch, and [[Sue Barker]], the British [[1976 French Open – Women's singles|1976 French Open Women's champion]], judged that there was "nothing particularly special in his game in those days".{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=19}} She notes, however, that while Henman did not have the natural skills of a tennis player, he was "a hard worker".{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=19}} None of his fellow players in the Slater Squad saw Henman as a potential British number one, with most believing Marc Moreso to be the group's brightest hope.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|pp=19–20}} Not long after becoming a member of the Slater Squad, Henman was diagnosed with [[osteochondritis]], a bone disease. He was unable to play tennis for six months, and it was two years before he could return to tournaments. Luckily for Henman, Slater kept funding him while he was recuperating, because of insistence from Lloyd who believed in Henman's tennis abilities.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=24}}

At Reed's School he passed ten [[GCSE]] exams, but failed chemistry. Outside of school, he worked in Anji's emporium in order to save money for a new racquet. As Henman notes in retrospect, "I passed the others with a few As, a few Bs and a few Cs. It was nothing dazzling by any means, but I got by."{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=26}} At the age of 16, Henman told his mother that it was impossible for him to retain his good grades while keeping up in the tennis world. In 1990 he dropped out of school altogether and focused on becoming a singles player, though Lloyd and the leadership of the Slater Squad had confidence in him as a doubles player, not singles.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|pp=26–27}} On the statistics that were available to them, Henman had managed to win five doubles tournaments but only two singles tournaments. But Henman disagreed with the Slater Squad leadership and began playing for the LTA in 1991. At the age of 17, Henman toured South America for eight weeks.{{sfn|Felstein|2005|p=27}}