CRAZY Wimbledon Stories & London Travel Tips with Tim Henman | Q&Andy

Summary

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Served with Andy Roddick

Episode: CRAZY Wimbledon Stories & London Travel Tips with Tim Henman | Q&Andy

Date: June 25, 2026
Podcast by: Served Media Network
Host: Andy Roddick
Guest: Tim Henman (Former World No. 4, Wimbledon Board Member)
Also featuring: Sean (co-host)
Transcript reference times below (MM:SS)

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Episode Overview

This episode is dedicated to all things Wimbledon, serving up legendary stories and insider perspectives with British tennis icon Tim Henman. Andy Roddick and Tim Henman discuss the mystique and operations behind Wimbledon, including wild card decisions, board responsibilities, and reflections on the pressures and joys of being a British player at 'The Championships.' The conversation also shifts to practical London and Wimbledon Village travel tips, plus a series of lively listener Q&As that delve into memorable on-court moments and future visions for the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Tim Henman: Wimbledon’s Many Hats

• Henman's Evolution at Wimbledon:
  • Former world no. 4, now a long-standing board member (18 years), TV commentator, and advisor on tournament operations.
  • [02:09] Tim: “I stopped playing in 2007 and then 2008 was the first time that I worked for the BBC… and then the last five or six years I’ve got much more into the television side… But I was then asked to come become a board member... I think this is my 18th year.”
• Transition from Player to Board Member:
  • Unique perspective balancing players’ interests with club obligations:
  • [04:51] Tim: “I'd like to think... I am capable of seeing both sides of the equation... Wimbledon puts the players first.”

Wimbledon’s Prize Money & Club Transparency

• Wimbledon's Financial Model and Prize Money Increases:

  • Prize money has grown from £108,000 for a semi-finalist in 1998 to £125,000 for a first-round win in 2026.
  • Emphasis on reinvestment: 90% of profits go to British tennis (LTA).
  • [05:31] Tim: “No one’s getting rich at Wimbledon and... that is invested back into the sport... The recent prize money announcement was... just over a 10 million pound increase, 20% on last year.”

• Openness of Wimbledon Club Leadership:

  • Contrary to public perception, the club is accessible and responsive.
  • [06:58] Andy: “There seems to be... this secretive thing... At least in my experience, it’s been the opposite... more of an open book than most places.”

The Wild Card Selection Process

• Complexity & Humanity in Wild Card Decisions:
  • Decision-making group includes board members and LTA heads.
  • Factors: British talent, players returning from injury, recent Grand Slam performances (ex: Helinška’s French Open run).
  • [08:23] Tim: “This is most definitely not an exact science. It is absolutely, you know, looking at all the different angles.”
  • Notable Quote [11:25] Tim: “We wish there were 12 [wild cards], but that isn’t the case... we have wildcard playoffs... so they have the chance to earn it.”

Wimbledon Village/London Travel Tips

• Living Like a Local: Where to Eat & Drink
  • Recommendations for Wimbledon Village:
    • The Ivy Cafe – Upmarket option (“bit posh for Roddick”) – [14:32]
    • Dog & Fox – Classic British pub, “spilling out into the road” on summer evenings – [14:39]
  • Henman's own village pub (Olivier at The Checkers, an hour west of Heathrow):
    • [15:06] Tim: “We live in a very small village... and three other families bought the pub... It’s called Olivier at the Checkers. You are my guest anytime.”

The Pressure & Experience of Being a Brit at Wimbledon

• Henman Loved the Spotlight:

  • [16:48] Tim: “I absolutely loved playing at Wimbledon... I felt that the crowd just gave me unbelievable support.”

• Infamous 1995 Disqualification Story:

  • First in 120 years to be disqualified for accidentally hitting a ballgirl.
  • Silver lining: Learned to ignore the tabloids forever.
  • [17:12–19:49] Tim: “...hit her in the head... I got disqualified. The headline was, ‘he hit it so hard, it could have killed her.’”

Fans Q&A – Inside Storytelling

• Impact of Rain Delays (2001 Semifinal vs. Ivanisevic):

  • [21:49] Tim: “If we’d had a roof, I think I had a good chance to beat Goran.”
  • But recognizes that earlier rain delays also helped him advance.

• Facing Pete Sampras at Wimbledon:

  • Sampras the "worst practice player of all time" but a different beast in matches.
  • [23:46] Tim: “Whenever we practiced… I think I went eight of [ten sets].”
  • [24:28] Andy: “He was the worst practice player of all time… but definitely had a different gear.”

Wimbledon’s Future & Modernization

• Making Wimbledon Faster:
  • Would tweak ball speed rather than the grass itself.
  • Ongoing innovations: hybrid (part-artificial) grass courts at Orangi.
  • [28:45] Tim: “If I could make it sort of 5 or 10% faster, I think it would give people the opportunity of being... more aggressive and coming to the net.”
• Expansion Plans:
  • Large new development over former golf course: more community parkland, new qualifying courts, potential 8,000 seat stadium with a roof.
  • [31:20–32:19] Tim: “The big project is across the road... 27 acres given to the community as a park... Five to ten years... improvements, but the big emphasis will be moving into that land.”

Funniest & Most Memorable Exchanges

• On the Name "Henman Hill":

  • [01:46] Tim (joking): “My hill. I mean, I own it, so why wouldn’t I?”
  • [01:54] Tim (on Andy Murray): “Never heard of him. I mean, you can’t change its name once something as important as that has a name.”

• On Pub Culture:

  • [15:57] Andy (about producer Sean): “Techie Sean… would crawl across nails to get a free beer. There’s no pride in this room.”

• On Serve & Volley’s Lost Art:

  • [27:57] Tim: “Volleying is very easy. I mean, it’s the most simple shot out there, forehand and back and volley.”

Best London/Wimbledon Tips (From Andy & Tim)

• Walking Wimbledon Commons for energy and "sense of arrival"—[35:39]

• Maison Saint Cassienne for sandwiches (chicken with mozzarella):

  • [36:00] Andy: “You have to go to... Maison Saint Cassienne. The chicken with the mozzarella... I will be going.”

• Wimbledon Museum:

  • [36:07] Andy: “You can go, they’ll bring all the old books off of... and you can read about the tournament... they'll have a binder full of clippings.”

• The Queue Experience:

  • [36:25] Andy: “People literally sleep in tents overnight... I lost one of my first years at Wimbledon... we took a bunch of beers and were just hanging out with the people waiting in the queue... it was awesome.”

• Adventuring into London:

  • Take the Tube, do the Jack the Ripper Tour, consider a historic pub crawl.

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Notable Quotes & Highlights with Timestamps

• On Prize Money Evolution:

  • “[W]hen I made my first semifinal, I was thrilled to get £108,000 and I mean that. But it will be £125,000 to win a round this year.” (Tim, 05:24)

• On Wild Card Drama:

  • “If Serena wants one, she's getting one... if you know the British players, are they going to take a spot from someone who's up and coming?” (Andy, 08:11)

• On Practice vs. Match Sampras:

  • “He was the worst practice player of all time. Compared... to what he actually brought when he played.” (Andy, 24:28)

• On Being a Wimbledon Default Trendsetter:

  • “That was Tarango's quote to the media. I was like, come on, Jeff. I mean, it wasn’t quite that bad… So anyway, from that moment on, I never, ever read the newspapers.” (Tim, 19:24)

• On the Future of Wimbledon:

  • “Part of its DNA is history, tradition with innovation...” (Tim, 31:29)

• On Henman's Pub:

  • “You are my guest anytime. And yeah, it’s a done deal. It’s 200 yards from our front door.” (Tim, 15:44)

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Segment Timestamps Reference

• [01:06] Start of episode & Henman intro
• [02:09–06:58] Henman’s multiple Wimbledon roles and prize money discussion
• [08:23–12:58] Wild Card process and stories
• [13:38–15:57] Wimbledon Village travel and local eats/pubs, plus Henman’s own pub story
• [16:48–19:49] Henman’s on-court pressure & infamous disqualification
• [21:49–23:27] Rain delays & what might have been in 2001 semifinal
• [23:46–26:41] Facing Sampras, “practice Pete” vs. “match Pete”
• [27:57–28:23] Serve-and-volley potential in today’s game
• [28:45–32:19] Future of Wimbledon, vision for new facilities
• [35:31–37:36] Local recommendations for Wimbledon, London experiences

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Episode Tone & Takeaways

A warm, irreverent, and deeply insightful conversation filled with gentle British-American ribbing, behind-the-scenes tennis perspective, and a love for Wimbledon’s traditions—always spiked with humor and hospitality (plus a few not-so-subtle digs at Andy Murray). Whether you’re a tennis insider or a first-time tourist headed to SW19, you’ll walk away smiling, better informed, and maybe dreaming about your own night out at the Dog and Fox or in “Henman’s” pub.

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Transcript

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[Andy]

Hey everyone. Welcome to Q and Andy. I mean, what better guest leading into Wimbledon than Tim Henman?

[Sean]

Let's go.

[Andy]

All right. Former number four in the world took us on all of those roller coasters, at least when I was watching Tim. How's it going?

[Tim Henman]

I thought you were going to finish off by saying and ended up with a hill.

[Andy]

Well, I was actually. I mean, I was going to say we had this conversation. When you're on site, do you say let's go to the hill? Do you say Henman's hill? Or do you say, let's go to my hill?

[Tim Henman]

My hill. I mean, I own it, so why wouldn't I?

[Andy]

Were you, were you surprised they didn't change the name to Mount Murray?

[Tim Henman]

Never heard of him. I mean, you can't change his name once something, you know, as important as that has a name. You're not going to change the name of Center Court. So why are you going to change the name of Henman Hill? I rest my case.

[Andy]

You rest your case? I had some comments, but since the case is rested, we'll move on. In all seriousness, pumped to have you on the show. You've been such an integral part of the Wimbledon experience for so long as a player and, and then kind of shifting over to the club side. You know, I remember when, when I came over to, to commentate for a Cup of coffee for the BBC. I remember watching you, you'd go from like the commentary box into a meeting. You'd be talking about potential weather delays and then you would be going into the office to make decisions about the weather delays. You wear a lot of hats during this tournament.

[Tim Henman]

Yeah. Jack of all trades, master of none. But it is a busy, it is a busy fortnight. When I stopped. I stopped playing in 2007 and then 2008 was the, the first time that I worked for the BBC and was commentating and that was really sort of the only commentary that I did, television work, as it were. And then the last five or six years I've got much more into the television side, working at the Slams, working for Sky Sports, you know, for the certain tour events in the US Open. And I've absolutely loved it. But I was then asked to come to become a board. So we have the board for the club and the championships and yeah, I've done that for a long time. I don't think they. I think this is my 18th year. However, I think for the first nine, I was just there to bring the average age down. They didn't really listen to me much.

[Andy]

But you've been a board member for 18 years?

[Tim Henman]

I have, yeah. I think this is my 18th year. I have to. We have to be. We do three year terms and we have to be re elected by the membership and.

[Andy]

Interesting. And they've kept you on.

[Tim Henman]

I know, yeah. It's amazing that I haven't been found out just yet, but you never know. Maybe this is the last year because I think I have to be re elected this year. But it's been amazing because it's been a steep learning curve to understand about the business and whether it's television rights or the benches or the estate and how much that has evolved over the years. So I've, I've loved it.

[Andy]

The leadership at Wimbledon was so nice to come on after they made their prize money announcements last week. I think at least from my own kind of text inflow, they got a lot of credit for making the announcement and just coming out. And I was allowed to ask any questions. Now, for you specifically, is it weird at all that you were obviously one of the top players in the world and now you're on the side where you're kind of dancing between, you know, the player side and an obligation as a board member to the club?

[Tim Henman]

Well, no is the answer and I'd like to think therefore that I am capable of seeing both sides of the equation.

[Andy]

Sure.

[Tim Henman]

And you Know, I was one of those, along with yourself, one of those actors and actresses that are at the forefront of the game. And that is what Wimbledon is about. It puts the players first. And it is obviously about finding somewhat of a balance when we go straight into that prize money conversation. But I think what's important for perhaps people that don't understand the model so well is that Wimbledon's been there for 150 years. It's got a very successful structure of the way that it reinvests, the way that the facilities for the players, the fans, for the television audience has really evolved over the years. And whether that's the roofs on Centre Court or Court one, and that does provide the platform for the players. And prize money has increased massively over the years. In 1998, I happen to be looking, when I made my first semifinal, I was thrilled to get £108,000 and I mean that. But it will be £125,000 to win a round this year. So look, prize money has increased. I'm sure it will continue to increase, but so will the investment in the, the, the site itself. And that, that's massively important. And then again, just to finish off on that point, 90% of the profit of Wimbledon goes to the LTA for the benefit of British tennis. So, you know, no one's getting rich at Wimbledon and admittedly that is invested back into the sport. And if you're, you know, not British, I can understand that you don't necessarily benefit from that money. But a lot is invested into the grass court season. And so, you know, the recent prize money announcement was, I think, very positive. It was a, it was just over a 10 million pound increase, 20% on last year. And I think it was well received by the players.

[Andy]

Yeah, just as a, as a, as a personal point, I've obviously been around Wimbledon. I've seen, you know, a million things. The way that the club operates there seems to be, I think, wrongly, sometimes the general public thinks there's like this secretive thing because it's this majestic place with all this mystique and, and I actually, at least in my experience it's been the opposite. Like I can, I can text him or the chairwoman or whoever else and get an answer very quickly, like, so just. There's no response needed on that. Just in my experience, um, that's good to hear more of an open book than, than, than most places. Um, something that is getting a lot of play and, and all cards on the table. We've, we've pre taped this to fit schedules before traveling. So I'm sure there's every chance that Serena is playing singles now or something. But with walk our, our listeners through kind of the wild card process because there's a lot of knee jerk reaction to, you know, and I tried to explain Kvalinska makes the finals of Roland Garros. Oh, she deserves one. I'm like, there are, there are moving parts, right? There is, there's, you got to, if Serena wants one, she's getting one. I assume if, if you know the British players, are they going to take a spot from someone who's up and coming, who they've been talking about giving one to for four months? Can you just walk us through the different parts of impact for kind of making the decisions with, with wild cards?

[Tim Henman]

Sure. So Wimbledon first and foremost is a tennis club that has a tennis tournament. And as I mentioned, I sit on that board. We have our chairwoman, Debbie Jevons, who you spoke to. We have 11 other board members and we sort of oversee different parts of the business depending on our skill set. So I chair professional tennis. So I look after oversee with Jamie Baker, who you also spoke to. He is the lead executive for professional tennis. And so within that I chair the group that makes the decisions around wildcards. So the lta, the head of women's tennis, which is Ian Bates, he will come and make his recommendations as to who he thinks should get wildcards into the women's singles and the women's qualifying. Leon Smith, who's Davis cup captain in charge of men's tennis, he will come and do the same on the men's side of things. They will leave the room and then a small group from the pro tennis team, including Debbie Jevons. Jamie Baker sits on, on that group, Denise Parnell, our referee, Sally Bolton, our chief executive and David Rawlinson, who is, is chair or I, I need to check, can't remember if he's chair or president of the lta. And then we will then sit and have a conversation and look at the British players. We'll look at players coming back from injury, up and coming players and, and it's therefore, you know, very much our prerogative as to who we give the wild cards to. And, and yesterday we had that, that meeting and we haven't given out all the wild cards because we can, you know, wait just to see what's happening in, in the grass court tournaments at present. But obviously we want, we want the best players. We want the biggest names in the tournament. And you use Helinsker As a good example, there's someone that had the most extraordinary run from qualifying to the final as the, the French Open. Those ranking points were obviously accumulated after the entry deadline. She's 21 in the world. She got a wild card yesterday. I think that was one of the easier decisions.

[Andy]

Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of them look easy on paper, but then I think there's more that goes into it, you know. But I also feel like there's kind of a human element. I'm curious how you value it. You know, Walrinka, being a three time Grand Slam champion, gets one, obviously Venus and Serena get one. That's great for the tournament. They've, you know, imagine winning that tournament five times and being the second best player in your family. Like, we can't ever undersell that. Like, it's absurd. But one of the more dramatic and sad moments from last year's tournament was Dimitrov, you know, kind of blowing out and getting a massive injury when leading center. And he gets one. So there. It seems like there's not a script matter, kind of a general North Star towards storymaking.

[Tim Henman]

Yeah, this is most definitely not an exact science. It is absolutely, you know, looking at all the different angles and obviously we've got, on the women's side, we've got some really exciting young up and coming players at, you know, Stanford. Rinka, is he 40 or 41 now? And he's a three time grand slam champion. He's one of the greats of his generation and, you know, we're delighted that he can be, you know, out at SW19 for one, you know, one, one last chance. So look, you know, there's, there's eight in the, in the main draw, the men's and the women's, and at times we Wish There were 12, but that isn't the case. We also have nine into qualifying. But we've also, what we've also done is we have wildcard playoffs, which are for the British players who have the opportunity of competing maybe for two or three matches to then get a wildcard into qualifying. And I think that's a great option so that they have the chance to earn it. You know, again, there's we, we give the junior champion from the junior event of the championships last year a wild card into qualifying as well. So we have both the men's and the boys and girls champions in, in qualifying. We have our national champion in the boys under 18s and girls under 18s in qualifying as well. So, you know, there are plenty of decisions to be Made. And that's before you even get to doubles, which you obviously mentioned Serena and Venus, which is, I think, massively exciting for. For everyone.

[Andy]

So we run a podcast from, like, a garage, and we're pretty excited because we're actually going to be in London for the first time. Like, we can afford plane tickets.

[Sean]

Barely.

[Andy]

Barely. So techie Sean and producer Mike are going over. They booked a house on Airbnb. Techie Sean's never actually been to Wimbledon. Has he been out of Arizona and North Carolina?

[Sean]

He went to the US Open last year.

[Andy]

He did okay.

[Sean]

It was hard for him.

[Andy]

So this is a big deal. Can you walk us through? They're staying around Wimbledon Village. Booked a house. What do they do? What's like a night in Wimbledon Village for someone not as famous as Tim Henman?

[Tim Henman]

Yeah, guys, you're in for a treat. Wimbledon Village is such a. It's such a great spot. Andy will vouch for me as well. I mean, the clue's in the name. It really does have that village feel. And some great shops. It's walking distance, you know, down to the All England Club. And you just got a whole array mixture of. I'm not going to say British institutions, but some good restaurants, some fun pubs, bars for drinking warm pints of beer. So you will love it. So what would I recommend? I think, I mean, if there was. If you were trying to impress someone. The Ivy Cafe, which is on one of the mini roundabouts right in the high street. That's. That's a. That's a pretty upmarket joint.

[Andy]

Probably posh for.

[Tim Henman]

Bit posh for Roddick.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Tim Henman]

You've got the Dog and Fox, which is, you know, across the road. And that's more. That's my.

[Andy]

That's my speed.

[Sean]

That's your vibe.

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Tim Henman]

On a nice summer's evening. They. Yeah, they're. They're spilling out into the road. So, yeah, you will absolutely love it. Can't wait to have you here.

[Sean]

You don't have a dish named after you anywhere. You don't have a sandwich or anything like hystererotic. Just a hill.

[Tim Henman]

I did sort of see a slight. Someone emailed me through with this and they talked about going, what would you do if you went into London? And I'm going to go slightly off piste and say, you need to go out of London, because we live in a very small village about an hour west of Heathrow, and we and three other families bought the pub in our village. And that is without doubt the best thing I've ever been Involved in. We have three other partners. Two of them live in our village and one of them is a French chef and he's been in the trade for 30 years. And he runs the pub. We bought it about four years ago, did a big renovation job. It's called Olivier at the Checkers. You are my guest anytime. And yeah, it's done deal. It's 200 yards from our front door.

[Andy]

I mean, I gotta be honest, Techie Sean would as he would crawl across nails to get a free beer. So if there's. There's no pride in this room, we

[Sean]

will definitely be there because we're flying out early to set up. Oh, good studio, good. So we'll definitely be knocking on your door.

[Andy]

I'm going to, I'm going to text him. He's be like, fuck. I thought that was just a bit for the show. For fuck's sake.

[Tim Henman]

Like, I don't want to. These guys.

[Sean]

I know the draw just came out

[Andy]

and you're busy, but can you host

[Sean]

us for a pint?

[Andy]

All right, all right. Producer Mike, we gotta, we gotta. This is the Q and A show I kind of took over. I'm sorry, what do the fans want to hear from. From Tim?

[Sean]

Well, one of the things we talked about, and I think a lot of fans wrote in about this and so Alice on Instagram had wanted to know, you know, did being a Brit at Wimbledon and facing the pressure that came with that make it easier or harder to play your best tennis?

[Tim Henman]

I think this might surprise some people, but I absolutely loved playing at Wimbledon. It was my favorite time of year. If I could have played my whole career on one court, it would have been Centre Court or Wimbledon because I felt that the crowd just gave me unbelievable support. And I think because on the whole I got off on the right foot. I mean, I did get disqualified in 1995, which was a little bit unfortunate.

[Andy]

Have you heard about this? No.

[Tim Henman]

Couple of days.

[Andy]

Yeah, he's a real dick. He knocked the ball girl out of the. He got default.

[Tim Henman]

When you finished, I'll explain what happened. So we were. I was playing with Jeremy Bates. He was the British number one at the time. And we were two sets the one up in the first round. We were in the four set tie break. We were just about to win and we were playing a very nice man called Henrik Holm, who was Swedish top 20 player. And another gentleman by the name of Jeff Tarango, I don't know if you've ever heard of him, but also got deficit. He was less helpful on the occasion Anyway, they hit two lucky shots in a row. We were back on serve in the tiebreak. And I had a ball in my pocket. It was there, serve. So I was walking back to the baseline, and I sort of hit the ball away while I wasn't looking. And the ball girl was the other side of the net. She sort of popped her head up and I hit her in the head. And anyway, I got disqualified. There's so many funny angles to this, and it was a nightmare. And, you know, I had to do press conference. I was sort of 19, going on about 12 at the time. And the first question in the press conference was, you know, how do you feel to be the first person in 120 years disqualified at Wimbledon? My parents were both members at Wimbledon. Alan Mills with the referee. I'd known him since I was naught. He sort of disqualified me. And then I went back. I was sharing an apartment, and the person. I was sharing the apartment the next morning, went out and bought all the newspapers, the broadsheets, the tabloids. And that individual was Andrew Richardson, and he is now coaching Radicanu. He coached Raducanu to the US Open title, and he was best man at my wedding. So, yeah, I remember when I got disqualified. That's right. The next morning, the headline on the back page of the sun, the headline was, he hit it so hard, it could have killed her. And that was Tarango's quote to the media. I was like, come on, Jeff. I mean, it wasn't quite that bad. She carried on running and we carried on picking up the balls. So anyway, from that moment on, I never, ever read the newspapers. I was just like, that's not going to help. And two days later, the Friday, Tarango walked off the court when he had the argument with the umpire and stopped, and he said, enough. And. And then two days after that, Murphy Jensen didn't turn up for mixed doubles. So there were three sort of defaults that year, and I was the trendsetter. I mean, what can I say of.

[Sean]

We need to find this.

[Andy]

Of those three, of which, Tarango was actually, like, really nice to me when I was young. Murph is completely turned his life around to his credit. But of the three who you would have said, which one doesn't fit? As far as just getting thrown out of the tournament, it probably would have been.

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[Andy]

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[Andy]

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[Andy]

Simon Williams auditioned for Wonder Man.

[Tim Henman]

I'm gonna need you to sign this.

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[Tim Henman]

If anyone found out, my lips are sealed.

[Andy]

Marvel Television's Wonder man, all eight episodes now streaming only on Disney, probably would have been. Tim, what else we got?

[Sean]

Mike, Jessica wrote us and said you had a couple great Wimbledon semifinal runs. There were a couple super lengthy rain delays during the 2001 semifinal. Do you think if you had a roof and no delays, the outcome of that match would have been different?

[Tim Henman]

I don't think. I know.

[Sean]

Yeah,

[Tim Henman]

I was joking.

[Andy]

I was gonna let you sit on that one.

[Tim Henman]

Yeah, yeah. The funny thing about that was in the fourth round in 2001, I was playing Todd Martin, who's one of my closest friends from tennis. We're gonna go and stay with him, actually his my family and we're going to stay with him in August in Rhode Island. And basically when I got up, picked my bags up to leave the locker room, my back seized up and I was really struggling and I was two sets to one down and we stopped for bad light. So then that night I was able to get treatment and a lot of work on my back. Came back the next day and I played great and I beat him in five sets. And obviously fast forward four days. I then play even Icevich in the semis. Two sets to one up and it starts raining. And then we come back on Saturday, he wins the fourth and it rains again and we come back on Sunday and he wins. And so yeah, it was definitely the most frustrating and disappointing match in my career. But without a delay, I wouldn't have got there. And there were plenty of occasions when delays helped me, but that was definitely the most, you know, hope high profile one. So look, if we'd have Had a roof. I think I had a good chance to beat, to beat Goran. I'd played him four times up until that point. I'd never lost to him. And he was someone that I, I kind of like playing. But you know, on that, on that occasion it didn't go my way.

[Sean]

Crazy.

[Andy]

A lot of perspective to say. I think I would have won it.

[Tim Henman]

It is, yeah.

[Sean]

Marcin has a question.

[Tim Henman]

Raptor in the final. I mean, there's no way I would have lost to him.

[Andy]

No, no way.

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Chance.

[Andy]

That guy snakes. Go ahead.

[Sean]

Marcin has a question. What did facing Pete Sampras feel like, especially on grass?

[Tim Henman]

Yeah, I, I played Pete two Wimbledon semifinals. I lost him 7, 6 in the third in the final at Queens. That was another one I would like to have won. It was a funny story because

[Bill Simmons]

kind

[Tim Henman]

of through Paul Anacone, Paul was Pete's coach and, and I always got on well with Paul and Paul worked with me for my last sort of five years on tour. I started practicing with, with Sampras a lot around that time. And you know, we go for dinner, we'd practice and you know, she was just a good friend of mine. And whenever we practiced, I would say if we played 10 practice sets, I think I went eight of them. For sure.

[Andy]

He was the worst practice player of all time. Compared comparably to what he actually brought when he played. For sure.

[Tim Henman]

And again, I think most of us would agree, you want to ingrain good habits, you want to practice the way that you want to play matches. Whereas him, he was just, it was just about feeling the ball on his strings and getting the timing. And anyway, we get to the 98. So 98 is the first time I beat Corda, who was, I think number two in the world in the quarterfinals. To get to my first semi final, I'm playing Pete, you know, third, second match on center, that sort of afternoon slot. It's just, this is it. And I walked on court sort of thinking, I can win this, I'm going to win this. I was so confident and good about my game. Obviously I'm playing one of the all time greats, but I'm thinking, I'm going to win this. And we're warming up and we've, you know, hit ground strokes, volleys, and then I'm standing in the corner getting the balls from the bulkhead to start warming up my serve. And all of a sudden I heard this crack and I was like, what the hell was that? And I sort of turned around and this ball was sort of hitting the Fence and about five feet up. And it was Pete warming up his serve. And I was like, oh, shit, he's got a couple of gears left.

[Andy]

It makes me, it makes me think of. So the first couple times I played Pete on tour, I won when I was really young. And we played a quarterfinal in, in 2002 at the US Open. And similar to, like, to Tim, I'm like, I listen, I understand what Pete is, but at this moment in time, you know, I just had a good summer. I was. He was ranked. This was after he was reading books and losing to Bastil in, in Wimbledon. So I'm like, like I think I'm favorite. He come, this motherfucker, he comes in on a first serve, sticks a volley off of a good pass, looks at me and flicks his sweat at me and walks back like it was he. He definitely had a different gear. What else?

[Tim Henman]

That was. That was the year that Greg said he was a step slow, wasn't it?

[Andy]

It was, it was, it was the year that he was a step slow, but his step slow apparently was good enough for the win and the, the walk off.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Tim Henman]

The mic drop.

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Sean]

A couple more questions for you. Megan asked us. When you look at the top 50, who would you love to turn into a serve and volleyer? Who do you think would thrive playing that style today if the courts were

[Andy]

as fast as when you played? I think is the caveat.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Tim Henman]

I. Well, also as well, I look on in amazement from where they return serve. And I mean, I'd have to put the brakes on my serve wasn't fast enough, but I'd run into the net before they hit the return. I'd be so close. Zverev, I think, you know, his first serve, he serves at 75, first serves a lot of the time, and, and when they, you know, retreat so far back behind the baseline, your volley doesn't even have to be that good. The issue a lot of them have got is they just, they, they, they don't do it enough in practice. So therefore, you know, what happens is they, they will throw in certain volley when they're up for 140, love. And they say, oh, look, you know, I'm working on my volleys. It's like for all 30 or let's see whether you can volley then. But I would love to see, you know, more players use that tactic. Not just because I love to do it, but from the fact that it keeps your opponent guessing. I mean, very, very few players do it, but you've got to. You've got to try and do that at a young age. And you know, look, volleying is very easy. I mean, it's the most simple shot out there, forehand and back and volley. But you do need to learn it at a young age. I don't think that the strings these days are conducive. You've got to have a bit of talent as well, Andy. But I think if you can learn it at 13, 14, it can serve you in good stead later on.

[Andy]

I like when one of the best volleyers of all time be like, it's a pretty easy thing. That's like me saying, I don't know, Tim. You just rip back and hit it 140. Like, what's your problem?

[Sean]

Yeah, yeah, just figure it out, guys.

[Andy]

All right, Michael, last thing.

[Sean]

And you kind of touched on this earlier, but Tom asked us on Instagram, what are the main changes you want to see happen at Wimbledon and what do you see the tournament looking like in five to 10 years?

[Tim Henman]

I'd love to see Wimbledon be a little bit quicker, surface wise. I think that. Yeah, well, I actually think it's probably bull wise because I think that the grass, you know, there's been so much research done and improvements into the quality of the grass and there's still a lot of work going around that we actually. Andy, did you know that there's two part artificial courts at Orangi? It's called. There's a company called the STRI Sports Turf Research Institute. And on the back of all, you know, your American football pitches, but our soccer pitches and rugby pitches, they have a lot of them now are part artificial. They have 5% artificial grass. And then when you sow the natural grass, the grass binds around the artificial element and makes it a lot stronger. And we put in two at Orangi and didn't really say anything. They've. They've been there for four or five years and. And the players play on them and they play really, you know, identically, but they're a bit harder wearing. Anyway, there's a lot of work going into grass, grass courts and sustainability, but also making them user friendly and whether you can play on them for larger amounts of the year. So I don't think I'd be that inclined to try and fiddle with the court, but I think if you could make the ball a little bit quicker. And we know that the balls vary from Penn to Wilson to Dunlop to Head to Babalat, and Wimbledon is a slashing ball, so I'm not saying that's going to happen. But if I could make it sort of 5 or 10% faster, I think it would give people the opportunity of being, you know, perhaps a little bit more aggressive and coming to the net. So there was another part, five to ten years look, Wimbledon and it's part of its DNA is history, tradition with innovation and the next. There's a lot of work going on in our Millennium Building which is a two year project. The sort of the first year is done. It's absolutely phenomenal what has been invested for the players and the members to a certain extent next year that will be completed for the 150th anniversary of the club. But the big project is across the road and the All England Club bought the golf course, I guess about 30 years ago. It was on a 50 year lease. We paid 65 million to buy the membership out of the golf club so that now that land is potentially going to be part of it, developed for the club and the tournament. But then a big chunk about. I think it's about 27 acres given to the community as a parkland, as a park, 365 days of the year. So, you know, five to 10 years, hopefully that, you know, will have started with the only Grand Slam that doesn't play qualifying on site. So we'd love to have, you know, qualifying there with much better facilities. But then when qualifying is finished then you've got, you know, a whole load more practice courts for the main draw players. We'd love to have an 8,000 seater stadium with a sliding roof. Center court and court one are fantastic. But our third show court is a big drop off between 15,000, 12,000 and then 4,000. So if we could have 8,000 across the road, that's division. So, you know, five to 10 years improvements. But I think the big emphasis will be moving into that land. Fingers crossed if we get the permissions that we need.

[Andy]

Tim, I don't care what anyone else says about you, I like you. I appreciate you coming on. I've really appreciated the transparency of the club these last couple of weeks. We're always happy to listen and be a medium for communication. Can't wait to see you over there. I'm glad you got in some digs because sometimes you walk around with all that polish sometimes and people are surprised when I say Tim's actually maybe one of the funniest guys on tour. So I appreciate you coming on.

[Tim Henman]

Spent. No thanks, Andy. And look, I quite like you as well and we're very happy and proud that you're a member of the All England Club. An honorary member. There's not too many people that don't win Wimbledon and become an honorary member. But you are. You're one of the few, and rightly so. I spent a lot of time at Roland Garros with a few of your contemporaries. John Isner and Sam Query and Johnny Mac, and I was upfront with them. They were great fun. I really enjoyed their company. But I just said, be prepared. I won't even acknowledge you when I'm at Wimbledon with a jacket and tie. And they were accepting. I think they were accepting of that, so I'll try and acknowledge you. But if I don't, then, you know, why.

[Andy]

I don't know. I feel like.

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[Andy]

Yeah, I don't. I won't be offended. You know, I might. Might say something. What are you drinking there? Like, you got a little. You going a little early pop? Ribena?

[Tim Henman]

No, just Ribena. Do you have Ribena? It's like blackcurrant juice.

[Andy]

I don't know. Let me. Let me Google something real quick.

[Sean]

I said.

[Andy]

You said penis.

[Tim Henman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, I'm more of a Claret guy.

[Sean]

Yeah. Okay.

[Tim Henman]

The bigger reds. Yeah.

[Andy]

Tim, thanks for coming on. Q and Andy, we appreciate it. Pleasure, guys, we appreciate you and we'll. We'll see in a couple of days.

[Sean]

Thank you.

[Tim Henman]

Yeah, 100%. Look forward to safe travels, and we'll catch up at SW9 team.

[Andy]

So Tim's fun, man.

[Sean]

Like, oh, so good. He's.

[Andy]

He's smarter than the rest of us.

[Sean]

I mean, are him and Andy Murray the two funniest driveway people that, like, would it be impossible to hang out with the two of them together?

[Andy]

It's. They have this ability where they've cut you and you only realize they've cut you after you bled out. That's. They both have, which I appreciate. I'm the opposite. I'm like blunt force trauma. They're like. They're sneakier and. And better. But, I mean, there. There are certain shows where we don't know. Like, we hope it's great. We don't know. You know, you find something. This is like Tim's a layup. Like, you know, he's gonna. He's gonna. I. I like that he went in depth on a lot of those stories, though. Yeah, that was pretty fun.

[Sean]

I mean, you know what? So he said that you would vouch for him on. You know, when we book a place on Airbnb, we're gonna stay there. That you would vouch for him. He obviously offered up very clearly, for us to go to his.

[Andy]

Yep.

[Sean]

His place and have a pint.

[Andy]

So I thought, I thought he invited you to stay at his house for.

[Sean]

He did. He said at least three days. He said at least three days.

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Sean]

So you start to smell like fish. But, I mean, obviously you have a massive love for Wimbledon. You have a massive love for the All England Club. You know what. What is the top five things Sean and I need to be sure to do while you're busy working and we're busy freeloading.

[Home Depot Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Andy]

You guys don't. You guys aren't gonna do anything just at night.

[Sean]

We'll be busy.

[Andy]

Yeah. Wimbledon Commons is fantastic. You all. If you're not on a time, you should walk every day to the courts.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Andy]

From where you're at, it's like you kind of get the energy of people walking towards it, the sense of arrival. Our sandwich spot, Maison Saint Cassienne. You get the chicken with the mozzarella. I talk about it every year. It's. I will be going. I will be eating. You have to go to the Wimbledon Museum when you're on site. It is. They've preserved all the artifacts. You can go look through. You would be a nerd for this. You love this type of shit. Like, you can go, they'll bring all the old books off of. And you can read about the tournament. Like, they'll have, like the 2008 edition and they'll have, you know, a binder full of clippings like this, obviously, strawberries and cream. You got to get that. Pick something that you and Sean, I think would be funny for the show. The queue at Wimbledon, people literally sleep in tents overnight.

[Sean]

We gotta do that.

[Andy]

Going and taking a 12 pack and be like, we're from served. You know, what are you guys doing? Like, I think that would be. I, I, if I'm. If I'm being honest, I lost one of my first years at Wimbledon, and my buddy and I went and took a bunch of beers and we're just hanging out with the people waiting in the queue. It was the best. We stayed there till like, two in the morning just talking shit and playing music, and it was. It was awesome.

[Sean]

One of the best parts is we can just go take the Tube into London. Tube for a day. And I think we were looking at some experiences on Airbnb, and I think we're going to book some. But what is it. What is, like, I can't miss in town in London.

[Andy]

All of it. Tower of. I mean, you just. Sean's literally going to go, yeah, and his head's going to explode.

[Sean]

I know.

[Andy]

What are some of the experiences? There were somewhere like you can go. There's like a haunted tour, like Jack the Ripper tour.

[Sean]

I think we're going to try that.

[Andy]

You got to do that.

[Tim Henman]

I think we're going to do that one.

[Andy]

What if you were doing the Jack the Ripper tour while going full ripper on some beers?

[Sean]

Well, I think there's also, there's also a historic pub tour. And I said to Sean, I go, I think we go pub tour first. Jack the Ripper tour afternoon.

[Andy]

Sean's like a hopeless romantic for culture. If you go on a pub tour, he's like, it was the best I've ever seen. I met British people. It's going to be fantastic.

[Sean]

I feel like we shouldn't let him listen to this episode. We should just surprise him with the entire experience.

[Andy]

He's going to lose his mind. It's the best. It's the best. I've said it over and over. I mean, if you want. We had a vault where I basically walked us through what we should do last year. Maybe we post that at some point, but it's, it's, it's so special, this legend of all legend of tournaments. And then the village going in, the infrastructure. It's in the middle of a neighborhood. It's crazy. It's the best. Sean's gonna love it. You were there last year. We might actually get credentials, I hope.

[Sean]

Yeah, I think so.

[Andy]

I think we can go whenever we want. Yeah, well, I can, but you can always go.

[Sean]

Yeah, I don't have a locker yet.

[Andy]

Yeah, I don't. I don't think I have a locker, but I could. I just have access. Thanks for watching Q and Andy. We are so pumped and we'll see you in London.

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