Tim Henman vividly remembers when he decided to retire but former British No 1 urges Andy Murray to carry on playing ‘if he is enjoying it’

The moment is still vivid in Tim Henman’s memory. The day he decided to stop. The conversation that made him realize it was enough.

“It was around 12:15 or 12:30 the night I lost in the first round to John Isner in Washington in 2007,” Henman remembers.

‘We were sitting in a really nice hotel bar talking to my coach Paul Annacone. He was and is one of my best friends. And I said to him, “For the first time ever, I think this is going to be my job and not my hobby.”

And he said very matter-of-factly, “Well, if you don’t like it, why are you doing it?”

And I said to him, “What, retire?” And he said, “Why would you do it?”

Henman has encouraged Andy Murray to keep playing if he still enjoys it

‘I looked at my schedule and I had the two Masters 1000 in Canada and Cincinnati, US Open and Davis Cup at Wimbledon against Croatia in the World Group Qualifying.

‘And when that was mapped out for me, I suddenly saw the finish line. I had two months left. All great events. To finish at Wimbledon in front of a British crowd, I felt so happy.

‘I won my singles match on Friday, played doubles with Jamie Murray on Saturday and hit a winner with my last shot to win the tie. I played well and then stopped.’

It looked like Henman wouldn’t be the last man to drop out of Wimbledon alongside Jamie Murray. Andy Murray would have loved to play doubles with his brother at this year’s championships, which looked set to be his last, before back surgery last week cruelly threw his fairytale ending into doubt. However, the two-time champion has refused to rule out his participation.

For Andy, the question of when to stop seems to be a battle between heart and mind. The heart is still completely in the sport he loves. But the nagging voice in his head that the body has finally had enough after years of injuries, is getting louder.

According to Henman, the choice is simple.

“If he enjoys it, he should keep playing,” Henman said. ‘It’s the best job in the world. There is plenty of time to retire. That is his prerogative.

“He’s said he doesn’t see himself playing past this summer, which isn’t necessarily specific and doesn’t have to be. But if you look at the schedule, does that mean Wimbledon or the Olympics? I don’t know. Or could it be further, going to the US Open?

Henman praised Emma Raducanu for her hard work to improve her fitness and resilience

‘I don’t have an answer to that. My only opinion is that he should play as long as he wants to play.”

While two-time champion Murray’s Wimbledon participation remains uncertain, Henman will return to SW19 and work for the BBC, three decades after he first reached the main draw in Wimbledon singles. “It makes me feel very old,” said the 49-year-old, who was beaten in four sets by Germany’s David Prinosil in the first round in 1994.

The sport has changed enormously since then, not least due to the growing influence of Saudi Arabia.

“I’m a golf addict and what happened as a golf fan was very unsatisfactory,” Henman said. “It really diluted the product. I want to see the best players playing against each other.

‘The Saudis don’t come to tennis, they are in tennis. Hopefully we can all work together as a sport and whether that’s the Grand Slams or the ATP and the WTA to make sure we have a better solution than golf because that hasn’t worked at all.”

The players’ well-being is in more focus than ever, especially after Novak Djokovic was forced to play into the early hours in Paris due to a knee injury that could deny him the next round of Wimbledon at Roland Garros.

Closer to home, Emma Raducanu continues to slowly ease her way back onto the tour after a series of injuries. The 21-year-old, a Grand Slam winner in 2021, opted to skip the French Open and the Olympics later this year to manage her workload.

“Getting your schedule right is crucial for your mental and physical health,” Henman explained. ‘If you go to a specific case like Raducanu, with the operations she’s had, I think she’s worked incredibly hard physically to improve her fitness and resilience.

‘I thought the clay tennis she played was exceptionally good. So switch to grass, which is a good surface for her. She likes to dictate, she likes to be proactive.

‘If you turn back the clock to when she qualified and won the US Open, she had no physical foundation to build on because she had been studying for her A-levels and had not had the chance to put the gym to work to put. in.

“Now that she has done that, I think she is in a much better position to showcase her enormous talents.”