Tim Henman | Meet the Tennis Legend with 15 ATP Titles & an Olympic Medal | Personable Ep 5

Episode 5 of Personable features tennis legend Tim Henman OBE. Tim is a former No. 1 British tennis player who reached a career-high of No. 4 globally. 

Tim reached the semi-finals of 6 majors, including four at Wimbledon. There is even a Hill named after Tim called Henman Hill outside the centre court. 

Tim has won 15 ATP titles, 11 in singles and 4 in doubles. He also became an Olympic medalist when he won Silver at the 1996 Atlanta Games. 

Tim currently serves on Wimbledon's board, commentates, and is the Founder of the Tim Henman Foundation https://henmanfoundation.org. 

In this episode, we discuss: 

Tim's journey 

Family background 

His mindset

Attitude towards winning

What is success?

Sports psychology 

Dealing with pressure 

His thoughts on today's game & players such as Emma Raducanu & Carlos Alcaraz 

Wimbledon - his involvement, the future & what makes it so special 

I hope you enjoyed the episode. 

If you would like to receive updates when new episodes are released, please subscribe on youtube and follow me on Spotify, Apple podcasts, + other platforms. 

If you would like to follow me on Social media

Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harveybracken-smith/ 

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harveybsmith/

Follow the podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harveybsmithpodcast_/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWwOqZ70cQghutgmlWliZPg

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JOTYDER6m2FDrlhop4api


CHECK THIS OUT: https://www.thedraft.io/

Personable is a podcast hosted by Harvey Bracken-Smith focused on offering a unique insight into the lives of leaders in their respective fields (World-renowned CEOs, Founders, actors/actresses, athletes and much more!) and is built on the back of his experience in running the society program at Eton College speaking to Entrepreneurs & the leaders running companies such as Barclays, J.P. Morgan, Citi, Emil Capital Partners, Manchester United, Chelsea, QPR, LAFC, Westports, Ocado, Aizel.ru, Deliveroo.

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:03

Hello and welcome to the fifth episode of Parsonable Today. I'm hugely honoured to have Tim Henman. Tim is a former number one in Britain for tennis, as well as being a career high of number four in the world. On multiple occasions he's reached the semi-final of six majors, winning 15 ATP titles, 11 in singles and four in doubles. He is a commentator. He's won an Olympic silver medal, he has a hill named after him at Wimbledon, he's an OBE and he's also the founder of the Tim Henman Foundation. Thank you so much for joining me today, Tim Pleasure. How have you been Good to see you again. So, Tim, you've had a hugely successful career, but I wanted to initially start by going to how it started. At what point in your childhood did you realise, and why, tennis? You're pretty good at quite a few sports. Why did you pursue tennis and how did you know that you were good enough to actually go into something like that?

Speaker 1: 0:56

First thing. First, I was brought up with two older brothers. We lived in a small village outside Oxford and my mum and dad both played different sports to a pretty decent level, and so that was my environment growing up. My brothers were four and five years older than me. I went to the same school, but after school it was all about playing sport, whether that was rugby, football, cricket, hockey, squash, goal for tennis. Probably from the age of three, I always played a lot of sport and I always enjoyed it.

Speaker 1: 1:31

I started playing tennis when I was three and then I think one of the defining moments for me was when my mum took me to Wimbledon the first time when I was six, and that was on the first Monday in 1981. I was lucky enough to see Beyond Ball play. We had a couple of tickets on centre court and I think when I saw Ball walk on to centre court and he was five times champion, I think that was when I made my one and only career decision that I really wanted to follow in Ball's footsteps. I wanted to play at Wimbledon, I wanted to play on centre court, but I knew, bizarrely, very, very young that tennis was what I wanted to pursue. But I did keep playing other sports and I think that was important, that I really loved all different elements of playing in team sports. I enjoyed, as I said, rugby, football, cricket, until I was probably 12 or 13,. But I always knew deep down that tennis was what I wanted to pursue. It was what I was best at.

Speaker 1: 2:45

Then, when I was about 11, that was when I made, with the support of my parents, a big decision to leave home and to go to school in London as part of the David Lloyd Academy. David Lloyd was setting up a tennis academy in his new indoor facilities that he was building. So I moved to go to Reed School and that was where I started to really up the ante in terms of my tennis. We would play instead of really playing the school sports. After school we were collected and then went to play two hours tennis sort of half an hour fitness training and then come back to school. That was, I think, those early years of being exposed to lots of sports, loving all sports but really falling in love with tennis at such a young age and then getting that opportunity. Those were really important moments for me.

Speaker 2: 3:46

Did you always think you were special or at least had what it takes? Because a lot of young kids they see football players and they're like I want to be a football player and there's so many kids that probably wanted to be tennis players as well that didn't make it. Could you tell that, hey, I'm a lot better than these people, or at least I've got the mindset to be better than these people. Did you notice a difference in yourself? Or do you think you had the same and you were just naturally better or more hardworking?

Speaker 1: 4:10

No, I think there's a massive unknown out there and I think the important element for me was how much I enjoyed it. It never felt like it was a chore. Was I good? Yeah, I think I probably played in my first tournaments when I was six or seven and then I played in a softball tournament with sponge balls when I was under eight and I won my county event. I won my regional event and then I got through to the national event and got through to the final of the nationals. I think I must have had an underlying belief that I was decent and then when I played in national championships under 12, I lost in the final. So yes, I knew I was decent. But I think one of the challenges is with.

Speaker 1: 5:06

Tennis is a global game. It's played throughout the world. When I was growing up, certainly British tennis was no hotbed of talent. So to be exposed to the game externally, ie outside of Great Britain, to get into European tournaments, I think that is massively important because you want to understand. If it's something that you're going to pursue, you've got to understand where the bar is, what the levels are. So one of my first trips I went to Holland when I was 11, played in some tournaments over there and did OK. And then my first sort of high level trip was when I was about 15, and we went to play a series of tournaments in Italy, in Belgium, and then we played French, then we played no, that was a later trip, but sort of four or five weeks on the continent playing on clay, and I think that was a bit of an eye opener.

Speaker 2: 6:05

I was a late developer physically.

Speaker 1: 6:06

So I was still a little bit small, I didn't really have the physical strength and my results weren't particularly good. However, it didn't deter me. I think, if anything, it just made me more determined. It made me appreciate the areas of my game that I needed to work on. So yeah, and I think you mentioned it, it is a journey, and I think that is very important for young people to understand, not just in sport but in life. Everybody's journey is different and there will be challenges along the way, there will be bumps in the road and there will be steep learning curves. But if you can embrace those challenges and keep learning all the times, then I think, whatever you're doing, you'll come out better, stronger, wiser, more knowledgeable, with more experience, and that can only be a good thing, and that was no different to my tennis.

Speaker 2: 7:07

Well, speaking of that, and you're playing in Europe, it almost sounds like, although it's incredibly hard to go in like that but you had quite a serious injury when you were younger, which you've spoken about on quite a few occasions, of which one would usually expect maybe midway in their career, and they've had this massive. I don't know, I've had this injury. Let me get back to this. And this was when you're a teenager, before you've even made it. So what made you then and how did you convince your parents and yourself have had this really serious injury? What can I do to get better and go back to tennis?

Speaker 1: 7:36

Yeah, I mean it was. So it was just when I started the David Lloyd Academy. I actually had two serious injuries One was 11, one when I was 19, and all just 20. And yeah, so basically it was an elbow injury and it was really because I was playing a lot of tennis, my bones were still developing and basically the muscles pulled a little piece of bone away from the main bone in my elbow and it was actually an injury that you don't really see a great deal in this country, but you see it a lot more in America with the baseball, young baseball players, the pictures when they're throwing, and so, yeah, it took quite a long time to diagnose, but the reality was that I wasn't allowed to play tennis for six months. Having just started on a tennis academy was massively disappointing and frustrating, but so I ended up just doing two hours fitness training every day for six months while my friends who were part of the academy were playing tennis, and it was very difficult to stomach. But I think again, it just highlighted my hunger and desire to keep working hard and doing the right things to get back fit and healthy, and I think that mental Fortitude and the resilience was something that I always had from a young age and it didn't sort of deter me, it didn't sort of sidetrack me from wanting to be a professional tennis player and fast forward.

Speaker 1: 9:11

I then, when I was 16, I did my GCSEs and I sort of convinced my parents that I should leave school and play full-time tennis. And I think I was slightly fortunate that my dad was a slightly frustrated sportsman. He was a good athlete and I think when he left school at 18 after doing his A-levels, I think he kind of wishes that he had played a sport for a year or two just to see where it could have taken him. But his father, my grandfather, was senior partner in the family law firm and I think his conservative approach was well, you should go into the city and get a real job. And so that's what my dad did. He became a lawyer and then became senior partner. So I think when I was 16 and saying to my mum and dad look, I really think I can play full-time tennis, I think my dad reflected and said to himself and then said to me well, you can always go back to education. You can never go back to being a 16-year-old wishing to learn their trade, that sort of apprenticeship, so I was fortunate that they gave me massive support and then I went off on my journey to become a professional tennis player and then just sort of fast forward a few years.

Speaker 1: 10:30

I then grew when I was about 17. I got fitter and stronger and I was taller and had a better reach on the court. And then my results really started to pick up and I was 20, just turned 20, and I'd broken the top 150 in the world and I was playing the tournament in Singapore and I ended up I didn't know at the time, but I pushed off to go to the net and I fractured the bottom of my tibia. So I basically broke my leg in three places. And again I was 146 in the world. I had huge momentum, I was really improving and then suddenly I was out of the game for five months and my ranking then dropped outside 300. And again, that was my journey and having to deal with that, having to have a pretty significant operation to have three pins in my leg, which I've still got today You've got to deal with it. You've got to pick yourself up and deal with the frustration and disappointment. But I think that therefore shapes your character, your resilience of how you deal with these things.

Speaker 2: 11:41

It sounds like you had an amazing. Your mental game was incredible and you had this sort of single-mindedness that you were always going back to tennis. But for a young player in today's day and age, do you still think it's important to leave school around 16 or 18 to pursue tennis, if that's what you want? And then also, how do you draw the line between those that should actually pursue tennis and those that shouldn't?

Speaker 1: 12:03

Yeah, it's a really good question. So certainly, when I left school I was 16, 1990, that's 30 years ago. I think the game has changed significantly and I think the physicality has changed and therefore players are taking longer to develop and so therefore, staying in education combining tennis, I think is a great option, and I know that you're off to university and I think the American College system is really providing some brilliant opportunities for tennis players now, because you can continue your education but you still can have the opportunity of lots of tennis, great facilities, great coaching and, most importantly, a lot of match play, because I think that's where you learn the most about yourself. So I think that time frame has changed. When I was growing up, it was so important to get out onto the sort of circuit and learn your trade, whereas now you can definitely buy your time, keep your options open.

Speaker 1: 13:25

And that question around who's good enough, who's not, no one knows. I think a lot of people at 16, 17, when I was 16 or 17, would have said he's not going to be good enough and everyone's entitled to their opinion. But it's interesting why did I have enormous self-belief, why did I have that hunger and desire to make it happen. And I'm not saying my two brothers don't have hunger and desire, but they were brought up in the same house with the same parents, with the same values, with the same opportunities. But for whatever reason, it was something that triggered in my brain that tennis was what I wanted to do, and my brothers are both very good all-round sportsmen, but they didn't want to pursue sport, and I sometimes ask myself that question.

Speaker 1: 14:22

But I think it also slightly comes back to the point that I've always said I've never had a real job. It's always been a hobby. And even with what I do now, I'm on the board at Wimbledon, I'm involved in television around tennis. I still work with HSBC, jaguar, rolex and Vodafone. Those are the four brands that I'm an ambassador with. They're all linked to Wimbledon. So I feel very lucky that all elements and adding my foundation, which I've done a lot more with all my work elements are passions of mine and I feel very lucky and fortunate that that's the case.

Speaker 2: 15:05

Did you ever imagine that you'd become an Olympian? Was that ever? No, I mean that's again.

Speaker 1: 15:11

It's another really interesting aspect that when I was growing up I was a massive sports fan and I loved watching the Olympics, but tennis really wasn't a part of it. It was a test event in 84 in LA. It became a recognized event in 88 in Seoul. Having said that, not a massive amount of the top players played and so it was a little bit of a sort of sideshow. I didn't necessarily think that tennis belonged in the Olympics, so very much was more along the lines of the Olympics should be the pinnacle of your sports and it wasn't the pinnacle of tennis and some debate that it still isn't.

Speaker 1: 15:55

Having said that, when you look at now, all the best players, the top players in tennis competing the Olympics, I think on both the men's and the women's side we've had so many amazing medalists.

Speaker 1: 16:08

For me to go to Atlanta in 96, I would say that I was just as interested in watching as many other events as I could as competing in the tennis itself. But once I got there, I would say the three opening ceremonies that I participated in Atlanta, sydney and Athens were three of the best things I ever did in sport the atmosphere to feel part of that enormous British team, to be wearing the uniform, if you like, to have that Union Jack and the tracksuit wherever you were, was incredibly special. And now to have an Olympic silver medal and I think the more tennis has grown in the Olympics, I think the more special and the more proud I am of that accomplishment. And when I talk to my kids about tennis and they're aware of what I've done, I think there are very few things that they are sort of that impressed with and I think that's you know human nature and their dad. I'm not gonna impress them very often but I think I think Olympic medalist is definitely one of them.

Speaker 2: 17:29

Do you think because that was quite early in your career, did that? Do you think that spurred you on to? You know, just won a medal, what didn't seem like one of the most amazing things in the world, but I think it's pretty cool, yeah. Do you think that then motivated you and spurred you on to your latest success?

Speaker 1: 17:45

No, I don't think so. I just think that you know that was what was. I was 21 at the time, as you say. Yeah, I'd broken through a little bit later on the tour and, and it just again was, you know, it was a big accomplishment for me and and I think you know, perhaps gave me more confidence, more belief to, you know, go out there and and try and, you know, beat the best players and win the biggest tournaments and and so, yeah, I think it was just another, you know, piece of the puzzle, piece of my journey that was coming together and I do I look back on those, you know, whatever, it was 10 days in Atlanta and you know, going through the draw in the doubles and, and you know, playing in that gold medal match was, I mean, we, we sort of got killed in the final by the Woody's who were, you know, one of the best doubles teams of all time, but you know two of one, you know, was it five matches in 96, which was, you know, really sort of lean medal hall.

Speaker 1: 18:50

For the British team to be there in that gold medal match was was very special. Disappointed to lose, but to come away with silver was an amazing memory.

Speaker 2: 19:01

So how are following that? You then went on a bit of a run of I mean, at least looking at it in hindsight, it looks like you want quite a lot of tournaments. What do you think the key success and winning in tennis is? And and how do you deal with that consistency? Because when I'm playing I'm not a good tennis player for?

Speaker 1: 19:16

anyone listening, but?

Speaker 2: 19:17

when I'm playing, you get on a bit of spur and you're feeling good about yourself. But with something like tennis you're bound to make a lot of mistakes, but it's keeping going. So how do you deal with all those things in your head and actually go and win tournaments?

Speaker 1: 19:30

Yeah, I think the psychology behind it is is really interesting and and it's part of a very steep learning curve and I think that's where you know my environment was changing rapidly. You know it was one minute that I was playing the lowest level of the professional game in India. You know, on a shoestring budget, earning very little prize money, to then sort of breaking through to the challenger, to the main tour, to playing in the Olympics and then suddenly being in the second week of Grand Slams. It was. You know it's tough to sort of get your head around, but you know it's such an exciting journey when you're playing in the, you know, biggest and best tournaments. When you reflect on again, I use that word journey.

Speaker 1: 20:14

It was. You know, a couple of minutes ago we were talking about me being a six-year-old at Wimbledon watching beyond ball play and then 15 years later I'm on on center court competing at Wimbledon. So you know it's a steep learning curve and I think being able to to deal with that. You know there are physical aspects staying injury free, improving your game. There are tennis aspects, you know, getting better and understanding your opponents, but also the mental side of things and you know that there are some key words, like I think you know three, that have always sort of sprung to mind.

Speaker 1: 20:50

Our confidence is one of them. I think it's a very interesting word, I think pressure again is an interesting subject, and success, you know, if you, I think we're so much more aware of the mental sides of life and sport, and you know our mental health and well-being is so important. And and so you know, if I were to say to a lot of young athletes or young tennis players we hear lots of people talking about confidence, you know what is it and you know, in my mind, confidence is the sum of your thoughts. It's your thoughts added together. But that can obviously go, that goes both ways.

Speaker 1: 21:35

And and so you know, if you know I'm a golf addict and if I stand over a four-foot part and I can easily stand there and say, well, I've missed the last three to the left and I missed, you know, the one previous to the right, and you know there's a good chance I'm gonna miss this next one. I'm adding together a lot of negative thoughts, and and so you know, to be able to, you know, to control your mind and really think in a correct fashion, that to build confidence. Is is so important and you know, I think that's an area of in life and in sport that is is massively important. And so for me, you know, going back to to playing tennis at the highest level to have that confidence and and the people around you to continue to instill the self-belief to compete and play at the highest level, is hugely important Do?

Speaker 2: 22:33

you have any techniques or anything that you would use, or mental strategies, because even if you have double-forged twice or something, there's a lot of expectation in your playing. So what would you actually tell yourself? Because I don't know, but I don't know, been in your mind, but it might be a random thought telling you you're gonna miss this shot. So what do you tell yourself? No, I am gonna make it.

Speaker 1: 22:54

Or yeah, I mean the, the, the reality of sports psychology, and, and the most basic element but is not easy to do is is staying in the present. So staying in the present is really about just playing in tennis. The next point, to the best of your ability, and what happened previously, you cannot change it. So you mentioned, you know, a couple of double-faults. Well, that's unfortunate, but you can't change it. So why worry about it? Why dwell on it? You know what you've got to be focused on. The next point, the next shot you know if it's in golf, if it's the, you know the drive off the tee. Concentrate on that shot. Once you've hit it, you can't change it. And so you know, having that clarity of thought is very easy in principle, but when you're playing on Center Court of Wimbledon in front of 15,000 people, and you know X million people, you know watching on television, it's easy to become distracted. And so to have that, yeah, that the clarity of thought, just to be you know, in that moment, and and I think again, a sort of a phrase that I used and related to a lot at Wimbledon was control, the controllables.

Speaker 1: 24:18

And so for me, really, the only two things that I could control were my preparation and my performance. You know everything else around, what was being said in the media, written in the newspapers, and it was. It was different. We didn't have social media, but I think our, you know, our press sort of contingent was a lot bigger. What was being said on on television and on the radio. I couldn't control it. So why was I, you know, going to worry about it? And and I was good at that, I didn't. I didn't worry about it, I wasn't distracted, I just wanted to, you know, focus on going out there. You know, preparing well, competing, giving a hundred percent to. You know each and every point, each and every shot, and what will be, will be, and, and that's. That's pretty simplistic, but it certainly was. It was a big part of why I played, you know, my best tennis at Wimbledon.

Speaker 2: 25:13

I think you've kind of answered my question already, because I was going to bring on to the next point about you know you come into Wimbledon and getting to the semi-final, reaching incredibly high at the tournament and consistently being able to do that, and a lot of the public, you know we've been talking before about you either win or you don't win and sort of we were talking about how the key to success it's not you know. Well, I'll let you talk about it. Yeah, basically my question was literally what you just, literally just what you answered was what kept you going and how did you keep consistently doing so well in major tournaments, not being faltered? And you know, yeah, consistently being. I'm gonna do this yeah, I think.

Speaker 1: 25:48

So you go back to, I think, the the the crux of your point. You know what is what is success, and to me, success is about maximizing your potential. And and so you know when I reflect on my journey. If you would have said to me at 19th you know, 18, 19 if you signed on the dotted line here, you can be in the top hundred tennis players in the world for the next ten years. You can play in the Grand Slam's, you can play on the main tour, you can earn a living playing professional tennis, I would have signed in a heartbeat.

Speaker 1: 26:28

So then you know, when I'm 19 and I break into the top hundred, I think wow. I think to myself, wow, this is, you know, this is good, this is exciting. But now I'm top hundred, I'd like to be top 50. And so then, you know, I break the top 50 and I think, wow, this is good, this is exciting, I'd quite like to be top 30. And I break top 30, I break top 20, I break the top 10, I break the top 5, you know, I get to 4. And so, you know, if you wind the clock back and you're saying, well, I would have signed being top 100. You know I was. I would have been delighted, I'd been thrilled with that. And so then, if you, you think about being the fourth best player you know on the planet.

Speaker 1: 27:13

And you know I won 11 titles on tour. I made six Grand Slam semi-finals. I was an Olympic silver medalist. That was as good as I was meant to be. I gave a hundred percent to everything to my tournaments, my training, my travel, my diet, my injury prevention. That that was as good as I was meant to be.

Speaker 1: 27:36

So if, then, people say, oh well, you didn't win Wimbledon, it's like, well, no, I didn't win Wimbledon. And you know, I would have loved to have won Wimbledon. It was my, my dream, my ambition. I think I was good enough to win Wimbledon, but there were people that were better than me. You know, I don't think you can reach six Grand Slam semi-finals and and say, well, you weren't good enough to win a Grand Slam. I think I was good enough. But you know, on those given days, you know losing to Sam Pras a couple of times in in the semis of Wimbledon, I lost to Federer in the semis of the US Open. They, they were better than me. I beat them. I beat Sam Pras, and Cincinnati I beat Federer six times, but on those given days they were better than me, so I think I made me the greatest of all time.

Speaker 2: 28:29

Sorry, beating, beating Federer. Does that make me the greatest full-time?

Speaker 1: 28:33

No, it doesn't make me the greatest full-time, certainly not. But no, no flex, that's nice.

Speaker 1: 28:38

Yeah, it's a good, you can forever say that is the good, it's the good wind down your CV or a few wins. But but going back to the original point, you know, around success, I think it's very easy to quantify Success in sport just by winning and losing. And I don't think, you know, over a career. It's, it's that simple. And and so you know, when, you know, when I look back at my career, right, I, I have, you know, lots of disappointments but no regrets, because I gave, you know, I gave everything I had.

Speaker 1: 29:12

So, you know, I think that's why, when I decided to retire, I was 33, you know, my, my game was a little sort of stagnating a little bit out a few injury issues. I very much felt that I'd always been traveling around the world trying to win tournaments and I felt, just at that moment, was I here sort of making up the numbers, was I trying to win a couple of matches or get to the second week of a slam? And that's why it was very clear cut and it was very, actually, very straightforward for me to to actually to stop playing professional tennis. We were just, we're just about to have our third child and I was 33, it was, it was absolutely the right time. And so, you know, do I? I don't miss Tennis, I don't miss professional tennis playing in any way, shape or form. And to me, I feel very fortunate. I feel very lucky that I was able to, you know, to stop, but absolutely the right time for me.

Speaker 2: 30:08

Well, how many winners? How many winners have a hell named after mcwimbledon? I don't know very I don't know any.

Speaker 1: 30:14

Maybe I'm wrong. No, no, exactly it's it's. Yeah, it's it's. It's always been my hill, and make sure that it stays that way.

Speaker 2: 30:25

Well, there are a lot of winners, but you know exactly, yeah, that's the only thing I I think that's the greatest comfort. In fact, I don't know if there's a talk of it, show a lot.

Speaker 1: 30:33

No, no, no, no, it's henman hill Even. I mean there was a bit of a debate at some stage whether it might become you know, murray Mounds. But they asked I remember it's about four or five years ago, and they, they did an interview with Andy and and he was he was sort of answer Asked a series of Sort of simple questions and it was whether you know he prefers tea or coffee, whether he likes, you know, early mornings or late nights or, you know whatever it may be. And the final question was you know Murray Mounds or henman hill? And and he said Quite rightly said no, you can't change its name. It's, it's amazing, it's always been henman hill, and a long may that continue.

Speaker 2: 31:16

That's amazing. So when you, when you retired, it was it always a thing you wanted to stay in and around tennis Commentating. You know, being in the sport. What did you ever think? Maybe you're going to corporate life or something else.

Speaker 1: 31:30

No, I always knew that. You know tennis has always been, you know, a massive passion of mine and and it still is. But I just don't need to play tennis. You know to be, I was, so I stopped in 2007 and then in 2008 I was asked to join the board at Wimbledon. So you know our board are the leaders of the club and the championships and then we have a big executive team and they go and, you know, really do the work around the direction that we give them and, and so you know it, go back to you know me first going to Wimbledon when I was six. Also, adding to the equation, my grandparents both played at Wimbledon and my great-grandmother played at Wimbledon too. You know the club and the championships have really been in my family for, you know, over a hundred years. So you know still to be involved.

Speaker 1: 32:29

I've been on the board for 15 years and I really enjoy that element of it and seeing how the club and the championships have evolved so much but have still maintained you know that history and tradition. We often talk about history, tradition and innovation at Wimbledon and it's very special to be a part of. So you know I love that element. I enjoy very much the television work that I do around the sport and, you know, working at the four Grand Slams they are the cornerstones of the sport. That's where the best and the best players, men and women, competing. So you know that very much keeps me up to date with what's going on.

Speaker 1: 33:12

And Then, as I said, still been involved with with, you know, those partners. They're involved and have supported me. You know HSBC. I've worked with them for for nearly 29 years. A lot of my junior tournaments, growing up with middle of bank events, middle and banks sponsored me at at Wimbledon and and then that became part of HSBC. So I'm very fortunate to have those relationships and, as I said then you know, with the work around my foundation, I found that very, you know, rewarding to To try and give back to some of those less fortunate.

Speaker 2: 33:51

Sure, I wanna definitely want to get on to your foundation. But just before talking about Wimbledon and the future of tennis, when you, when you've got such an amazing tournament like Wimbledon and you're now on the board of it, you're you're literally one of the biggest tennis tournaments on the entire planet, so you're thinking about the overall sport of tennis. So, when you're making those key decisions, what key metrics are you looking for? You're looking for? Is it monetary based? Is it? Is it, you know? Fan experience base? Is it play the base? Is it you know? Try to grow the sport of tennis. Yeah, you try to compete with other sports. And where do you see the future of tennis, both as a sport and also in Britain especially?

Speaker 1: 34:30

Yes. So so you know Wimbledon. I would say Wimbledon's Mission, if that's the right word, is to be Certainly the best tennis tournament in the world. You know to be the best annual Sporting, one of the best annual sporting events in the world. And go back to that tennis element the best tennis tournament in the world and held on grass. You know grass is very much an important part of the DNA.

Speaker 1: 35:01

When you look at those metrics, you know I think you're looking first and foremost, you know, the player experience. We want the players to come away Thinking, believing that this is the best tennis tournament in the world. We're certainly looking at our, you know, fan experience and looking at the Audience numbers, whether that's our ground capacity, whether it's our television audience. And and certainly you know that the financial side of it's important because the the, the profit of Wimbledon goes up, the benefit of Wimbledon goes to the LTA for the benefit of British tennis. So that's very important Nationally.

Speaker 1: 35:43

But obviously the health of the sport Internationally is massively important because if the game isn't growing, if the game's not popular, then we're not going to hit, you know, those targets. So so certainly you know I think Wimbledon feels like it's an important custodian of the sport we're looking, you know, long term We've got, you know, a lot of exciting opportunities going forward. So you know, it's an amazing thing to be a part of when you also consider that it is fundamentally just the tennis club that has a tennis tournament. But you know, it's, it's, it's brand, its values Are hugely important and need to be sort of nurtured and and cherished.

Speaker 2: 36:32

What do you think makes Wimbledon so special? And if you had to change, you had to change one thing about it. What would it be and why?

Speaker 1: 36:40

Um, so I think what makes it so special are, as I mentioned just a little bit earlier, it's history, tradition, but there is enormous innovation and you know, when you you talk about the strength of a brand, I think you know the Wimbledon brand is right up there with With any brand globally because it's um, you know it's, it's very Uh, sort of well protected Um.

Speaker 1: 37:05

but when you think about its DNA, it's um, I would say it's. It's grass courts, it's predominantly white clothing, it's the center core, it's the raw box. Um, it's the real um. It's that almost lack of branding on the court that makes the branding so strong. So it's that sort of clear canvas. But also as well, I think the club and the championships is not scared to innovate. So an example of that would have been if you'd have said to me 20 years ago, in 20 years time you're going to have sliding roofs on both centre court and court one, I don't think many people would have believed you. But when you look at that investment and the sort of technology behind that, it's huge additions that guarantee play for 27,000 spectators on two courts, for the players and obviously for a global television audience. It's added massive value with the expansion across the road, with the golf course. You know there's hugely exciting opportunities that really have to be managed extremely carefully. But you're then sort of future proofing the next 30, 50, 100 years of the club and the tournament.

Speaker 2: 38:34

I hate to ask this question, but I feel like I must have to, as you were disqualified. Was it Wimbledon nearly 20 years ago? Would you have disqualified yourself if you were in charge?

Speaker 1: 38:46

Yeah, yeah, it was very, you know it was. There was some sort of in hindsight some funny elements around it. I was playing doubles, you know. I should hasten to add that we were two steps to one up. We were in the four set tie break, so we're very close to winning. So it wasn't as if I was, you know, throwing a massive tantrum and you know my toys were coming out of the pram, as it were.

Speaker 1: 39:11

But having said that, you know our opponents hit two very sort of fortunate shots in the tie break and I, you know, turned away because it was their serve. And so I sort of turned away to hit the balls down the other end of the court and, and just as I hit the balls, the ball girl was the other side of the net and she sort of popped her head up to run across and I hit her in the side of the head. And so you have to be, you've got to be responsible for your actions on the court. And I hit the ball away, wasn't really looking where I was hitting it, and if you hit someone on the court then you know there's a fairly good chance you're going to be disqualified. So it was a massive shock to the system. You know I was. I was 20. I was 20 at that time and I was the first person in 120 years to be disqualified at Wimbledon. So I remember the, the, the.

Speaker 1: 40:04

The next day I was sharing a flat with Andrew Richardson, who was best man at my wedding, who was a player at the time, and he went out and bought a lot of the newspapers and I remember reading the back page of the, the back page of the sun. The headline was he hit it so hard it could have killed her. And that was a quote from one of the one of our opponents that day. And I remember reading thinking you know that is just completely untrue, you know it's just a massive exaggeration, but you know, again, it goes back to that element of controlling the controlables.

Speaker 1: 40:41

I couldn't control what was being written in the newspapers and pretty much on that day on, certainly when I was a professional tennis player, I never, I never read the newspaper, but I could probably count on you know two hands how many articles I read about tennis or really about anything you know, for the rest of my career, because I knew, you know they weren't. They weren't opinions that I was interested in. They weren't opinions that I could control, so why would I bother reading them? So I, and that that definitely helped me. You know, when there are plenty of distractions out there, certainly when I was playing at Wimbledon, to not read the newspapers was was hugely beneficial to me. It's insane.

Speaker 2: 41:29

I was going to ask you about some few specific players I had in mind. I'd be interested in your overarching view of tennis, with specifically looking at players like Emiradikhanu, novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcoraz. You know you kind of got both Emiradikhanu and Carlos coming through, and then Djokovic is a lot older. I'd be interested in your overarching view on those three players specifically, as well as other people, on where you see the sport going, what you think they'll do in the next few years.

Speaker 1: 41:57

Yeah. So I think I think Alcoraz and Radekhanu are really great examples of incredible tennis players. Excuse me, but very, very different journeys and this is a you know this word journeys, journey keeps coming up and I just think it's so important. So I think with Alcoraz he's had, you know, an extremely sort of well planned, well mapped out, you know meteoric rise. But there's been the opportunity for the foundation to be built from a young age and you know he's been working with Juan Carlos Rero for sort of five years and you know he's been at that tennis academy. He's been able to work on all areas of his game. He's been then able to work on his fitness and his strength and the physicality and the mindset, and all those pieces of the puzzle have been put together to then play in the futures, to be able to go through the challenges, you know, onto the main tour and you know now to go through to win big tournaments, to win Grand Slams and to become world number one. And that's his journey and it's been amazing.

Speaker 1: 43:25

However, when you look at Radekhanu's journey, you know of sitting her A levels in lockdown. You know having no real opportunity to be training, you know physically or technically, and then you know, on the back of no, no sort of training blocks, just to go into Wimbledon. I'm trying to. I forget which year it was. It must have been 2020, I guess you know the beginning of lockdown, yeah it's over 2021, wasn't it?

Speaker 1: 44:05

2021, sorry, yes, so it was. You know, to go into Wimbledon 2021 with no form, with no tournaments, with no training, and then you know to play as well as she did to make the fourth round. And then you know get her ranking up into sort of top 200 and then go on her first real sort of professional trip to America and to play four tournaments, and then, you know, turn up at qualifying. When you think about professional tennis, grand Slam tennis in the open era no one's ever qualified and made the final of a Grand Slam and you think about all the greats of the game, whether that's Venus and Serena Williams, martina Narotilova, you know Billie Jean King, chris Ever, Federer, nadal, djokovic, sampras, agassiz no one. Mackinac no one's ever qualified and made the final of a Slam.

Speaker 1: 45:02

And you know Radhikanu qualified and she qualified and won the thing. And you know, one of the most extraordinary things I've ever seen in professional tennis. However, there was no base. There was this incredible natural athlete, somebody so mentally resilient, who was such a great tennis player, but there was no foundation. And so you know she then wins the US Open but is doing the ball back to front.

Speaker 1: 45:37

So then for her to try, and you know, put that foundation in place has been very, very hard, and because suddenly her schedule is dictated by the fact that she's getting into the biggest tournaments and she was so raw and still is so raw and learning her trade, she's kind of having to do it back to front and then she's been unlucky with different injuries. But I still don't have any doubts that, you know, radhikarnal will get back to the top of the game. I just think it's important that she, first and foremost, remains patient and also people around her remain patient, and certainly she needs to get the right team around her, whether that's a tennis coach, a physio or a fitness trainer and then just build.

Speaker 2: 46:33

Before you talk about the other players, I'd be interested because quite a few things I read about you was saying there was a lot of expectation of you and someone like Emmerad Akarni that suddenly won the US Open. There's a huge amount of expectation on her for the rest of her career. If she doesn't even get close again, people will view her as a failure. That's just the way people look at it. So how did you deal with expectation to keep doing so well in tennis and what advice did you have for Emmerad Akarni moving forward with these injuries, having won the US Open, and building that foundation?

Speaker 1: 47:06

I think expectations were very different. I was a late developer. I was breaking into the top 100 when I was 19 or 20. And yes, the expectations increased when I started to do better at Wimbledon, being a British player playing as a home player in the biggest and best tournament, whereas her levels of expectation externally have been have been crazy. And that goes back to what I said earlier on she can't control that. She should not be influenced in any way by what's been said and talked about in the newspapers, because she can't control it.

Speaker 1: 47:54

So it's a good question, isn't it? What is success for Radhakarni? Now, it's ludicrous that I never won a Grand Slam, but she's won a Grand Slam. And now you're saying, well, people are saying, well, if she doesn't win another Grand Slam she's a failure. I mean, it's just ludicrous. She's got to get fit and healthy and, fingers crossed, she can do that. And then she's got to work hard and look to improve all aspects of a game and then in 10 years time, if she's done that, she'll be able to look back and say, well, I did X, y and Z and A, b and C and that was as good as my career could be. But that cannot happen unless she's fit and healthy, and that's where it's so important that she's patient. And if she gets fit and healthy and strong, then she'll be able to do herself justice. If she's trying to play a professional game when she's not healthy, she won't do herself justice. She won't be able to compete against the best players, because the challenge is tough enough when you're healthy.

Speaker 2: 49:07

Yeah, sort of as someone that's not reached even close to what either of you have achieved, but sort of reiterating that it sort of seems that people look at the output without all the preparation beforehand, when in most of it I think I've read a quote from before that practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent, which I think is a really nice quote, and what I've got out of this interview from you is that it's all about building this foundation and it's all about reaching your max potential, and if your max potential means you don't win anything, that's your potential. There's nothing you can do about it, but it seems that you should always try your best and control the controllers, which I think is a really key lesson.

Speaker 1: 49:43

Both me and the others, and that's where you know. For you, harvey, or any individual you know, even if you knew, I don't know if you know what you want to do, but let's say you know. Let's say you're going to play sport, you're going to be a golfer. You don't know what your potential is. You know, could you be number one in the world, maybe could you win a major champion, major championship Maybe. But you don't know. You don't know, your family don't know, I don't know, your coach doesn't know.

Speaker 1: 50:18

But what you've got to do is find out. And the way you find out is by giving 100% in all those different areas. And that's you know, that's you know. What I was lucky enough to you know, be told by my parents growing up. You know, whatever you're doing, try your best, give 100%. You can't do more than that. Whether it's exams, whether it's schoolwork, whether it's you know sport, or try your best, and it's not always easy to do. There are plenty of days where we all you know, get up out of bed and you don't necessarily feel like you know doing it, but those are the days, I think, that define you as a person. They will bring out that character and you know that's what you want, and so you know when you go back to you know Alcaraz. Alcaraz has won two majors. He's been world number one. I mean that's incredible. But is that, is that it? I don't think so.

Speaker 1: 51:23

And so you know he wants to find out what his potential is. You know it's, it's how he made his canny when. And so you know, as long as he still has that hunger and desire and motivation, he's going to keep working hard, and I think I think it. I'll give you an example at the other end of the spectrum. So when I look back at British tennis over the last 20, 30 years, my, my biggest gripe is that we've had too many players that haven't maximized their potential. And when I say haven't maximized their potential, they've been, you know, enough players with natural ability, as, as you know, as as good tennis players, the technical side of things that haven't had that work ethic, that hunger and desire to be better athletes, to compete harder, who therefore haven't maximized their potential.

Speaker 1: 52:20

And that's, you know, there will be players that look back at the end of their career with regret saying, god, I wish I'd done that, I wish I'd applied myself better, I wish I'd worked harder here. And that's that's no fun, because we only get one opportunity. You know this life's not a dress rehearsal. You get one shot at it and when you are whether you're 10 or 12 or 18 or 19, you only get one chance at those different stages in life and I think it's important that we, we grasp them. Go out there and be ambitious, you know, set your goals high and and give it your best shot, and then you'll look back with, you know, no regrets, no you disappointments, that you, you gave it your best shot, thank you.

Speaker 2: 53:07

It's amazing. I kind of I kind of cut and cut you off because I wanted to come back to it a bit later on. But you started a foundation. I'd love if you could talk a bit about that, where the inspiration came from and and what's going on with at the moment.

Speaker 1: 53:19

Yeah, so when I was lucky enough to get the tennis scholarship, which was, you know, sort of funded by Jim Slater, who was a financier in the city, and David Lloyd, when David Lloyd was starting his, his first tennis club was indoor tennis center was at Heston, right by Heathrow Airport, and then the second one was at Reince Park. He was living in Ockshot and there, and therefore the school that we were sort of chosen to attend was Reed School in Cobham and you know, when I was there I I was aware I felt sort of you know, very lucky that I was given this opportunity in tennis, but I was also aware that I was getting a free education because I was good at tennis and and I was then became even more aware of Reed School and what that was about. And Reed School was set up now about 205 years ago by Andrew Reed and it was an orphanage and you know so it was. It was providing an opportunity, you know, for children that had lost a parent or both parents, and you know, you know, 200 years ago, you know that that really sort of struck a chord, that here was someone who, you know, really wanted to provide opportunity for those less fortunate and and I always, in the back of my mind, thought, wow, you know, if I get the opportunity to be able to support in somewhere area, you know education is always going to be, you know, high on that list and and.

Speaker 1: 55:00

But I've always been passionate about sport and and those you know really have been the cornerstones of the foundation, you know, providing it opportunities in, in education and sport for those less fortunate. And, again, you know, through the challenges we've had in the last, you know, for three or four years, around COVID, and you know there are so many, there are so many people out there that need a little bit help, need those opportunities, I said, you know, we only, we only get one chance at that. So, you know, the foundation has been, you know, very rewarding and inspiring and motivating to, you know, do do that extra bit. You know I'm lucky. As I said, I talked a lot about opportunity. You know my parents gave me opportunity. David Lloyd and Jim Slater gave me opportunity. Tennis has given me incredible opportunities and so to be able to, you know, give a little bit back and and Support those less fortunate, I think has, yeah, it's been something I've enjoyed and something that, you know, I hope to continue for many years to come.

Speaker 2: 56:13

I've got one final question, and that is what's meant for you. What are we gonna be seeing you doing the next 20, 30? Yeah.

Speaker 1: 56:22

I was asked them.

Speaker 1: 56:23

I was asked a couple of years ago, I can't remember who, who, who asked me and they said what's your ambition?

Speaker 1: 56:30

And I thought, wow, that's a really, you know, thought-provoking question because you know, having grown up Always, you know being sort of highly motivated and always working towards goals with touch on it, you know Trying to be in the top hundred in the world and top 50 and you know win this tournament, that tournaments, and improve here and Physically, whatever it may be, you know, in in sort of post tennis career.

Speaker 1: 57:01

I think it's a little bit less specific, which I'm, you know, very happy with and actually came when I said well, if I could have the next 10 years Almost the same as the previous 10 years and you know, my family are happy and healthy and I'm involved in all those things you know, around the game, around Wimbledon, doing my television work, being able to support through my, my foundation, I would, you know, I would sign, sign on the bottom line, on the bottom line. So, yeah, I feel very fortunate that you know again, I I don't have, I don't have a real job. You know all the things are, you know hobbies and passion about them and you know, long may that continue.

Speaker 2: 57:52

Well, you said sign on the dotted line, but the last time, you know, you said that you far exceeded those expectations, but it's been a huge honor to have you on. I feel like I've learned way more than I thought I would. I mean it's you know there's lessons are incredible and, I think, transcend even sport itself. I'm very interested to see what you, what you're up to next. You've had a phenomenal career and I'm sure many people will realize that it's truly about maximizing your potential rather than the output, but your output was still absolutely incredible. So thank you so much for joining me and pleasure.

Speaker 1: 58:26

Pleasure Harvey, and it's been great getting to know you and your family. Best of luck. I know you're off to Duke Tomorrow but, yeah, keep in touch. I'm much more interested in your journey and and seeing what you get up to over the next year, five years, 10 years. So, as I said, keep in touch and, and I hope, our paths continue to cross.