Tim Henman on comparisons between Novak Djokovic and his 1995 Wimbledon default: 'I was 20...

[ASFN Admin]

Talk about smart recruitment. Even before Sunday night’s drama, Amazon Prime’s use of Tim Henman as a studio pundit had been an important plank in their coverage. And then, when Novak Djokovic made the costliest unforced error of his career, Henman was perfectly placed to comment. At the top level of the game, this sort of default had happened only three times over the previous 30 years. Denis Shapovalov was ejected from a Davis Cup match in 2017, David Nalbandian from Queen’s Club in 2012, and Henman himself from Wimbledon in 1995, the year he accidentally struck a ball girl in the head during a doubles match. “There were distinct similarities between my case and Novak’s,” Henman told Telegraph Sport on Monday. “We both hit the ball away in frustration and deserved a default. Where they’re very different is that I was 20 years old, had just won my first ever singles match at Wimbledon a couple of days before, and was ranked around 180. Whereas Djokovic is the world No1. “I did the press conference straight after. The first question was ‘How do you feel about being the first person in 120 years to be disqualified at Wimbledon?’ It was hard, being a British player, and especially when you add in my family history. [Henman’s maternal grandparents, Henry and Susan Billington, both played Wimbledon in the 1950s, while his great-grandmother, Ellen Stanwell-Brown, is reputed to have been the first woman to serve overarm.] “I was sharing a flat with [British contemporary] Andrew Richardson, later the best man at my wedding. The next morning he went out and bought all the newspapers, enjoying a good laugh at my expense. I remember on the back page of The Sun, the headline was ‘He hit it so hard he could have killed her.’ That was a massively inaccurate and unhelpful quote from [fiery American player] Jeff Tarango. “I remember reading the news that day and thinking ‘This is not doing me any favours. I am never gonna read them again.’ I think that helped me playing at Wimbledon from then on. I was always single-minded, never thinking about what was being said or written about me. I also thought ‘I had better have some decent results or I am gonna be remembered as the guy who got disqualified at Wimbledon.’

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