- published: 18 Aug 2012
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Tim Henman OBE (born 6 September 1974) is an English retired professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first player from the United Kingdom since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the semi-finals of the Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship. Henman never reached the finals of any Grand Slam but reached six Grand Slam semifinals and won 15 career ATP titles (11 in singles and four in doubles), including the Paris Masters in 2003. He was ranked UK number 1 in 1996 and again from 1999 to 2005, from which point he was succeeded by Andy Murray. He reached a career high ranking of World No. 4 during three different periods between July 2002 and October 2004. He is one of Britain's most successful open era male tennis players, winning $11,635,542 prize money.
Henman started playing tennis before the age of three, and began systematic training in the Slater Squad at eleven. After suffering a serious injury which affected him for the better part of two years, he began touring internationally as a junior and achieved some successes. He rose quickly up the ATP rankings, and by 1996 had reached the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon Championships. Throughout his career, Henman was a noted grass specialist, not becoming truly comfortable on clay and hard court before the end of his career, when in 2004 he reached the semi-finals in both the French and US Open. The year 2005 began a decline for Henman, and from that year onwards he never managed to pass through the third round in a Grand Slam tournament. Henman retired from professional tennis in late 2007, but he remains active in the ATP Champions Tour (a tour for former professional tennis players).
Roger Federer (German: [ˈfeːdərər] born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). His accomplishments in professional tennis cause him to be popularly regarded as the greatest tennis player of all time. Federer turned professional in 1998 and has been continuously ranked in the top 10 since October 2002.
Federer holds several records of the Open Era: holding the world No. 1 position for 302 weeks (including 237 consecutive weeks); winning 17 Grand Slam singles titles; reaching each Grand Slam final at least five times (an all-time record); and reaching the Wimbledon final ten times. He is among the seven men (and among the four in Open Era) to capture a career Grand Slam. Federer shares an Open Era record for most titles at Wimbledon with Pete Sampras (7) and at the US Open with Jimmy Connors and Sampras (5).
Federer has reached 27 men's singles Grand Slam finals, including 10 in a row from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships to the 2007 US Open, both statistics being records. He also appeared in 18 of 19 finals from the 2005 Wimbledon through to the 2010 Australian Open. He reached the semifinals at 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open. At the 2016 Australian Open, he played in a record 65th consecutive Grand Slam tournament, reached a record 47th Grand Slam quarterfinal and a record 39th Grand Slam semifinal. Earlier at the 2015 US Open, he reached a record 27th Grand Slam final. Also earlier at the 2013 French Open, Federer reached a record 36th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. Federer has won the most matches in Grand Slams (302) and is the first to record 65+ wins at each Grand Slam tournament.
Andrew Stephen "Andy" Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American former World No. 1 professional tennis player.
He became a Grand Slam singles champion when he won the title at the 2003 US Open, defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final. He is the most recent North American male player to win a Grand Slam singles event, the most recent to reach the top ranking, and the most recent to claim the year-end world No. 1 (2003). Roddick reached four other Grand Slam finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Open in 2006), losing to Roger Federer every time. He is married to Brooklyn Decker, a Sports Illustrated swimwear model and actress.
On August 30, 2012, during the 2012 US Open and on his 30th birthday, Roddick announced that he would retire after the tournament. Following a fourth-round defeat by Juan Martín del Potro, Roddick retired from the sport with the aim of focusing on his foundation, the Andy Roddick Foundation, in future years.
In 2015 Andy Roddick played for the Austin Aces in World Team Tennis. This was his eighth season in World Team Tennis and the fifth team he has played for.