Henphobia

[Gilliver's Travels]

Why does Henman create that in so many people? After all, he is actually a very good tennis player - not a great, but very good; you can't deny that.

But, just by simply appearing on a TV screen or worse still, a tennis court - anywhere - he creates the most terrifying inner rages and loathings for which there is no explanation, and no cure.

Is it simply because he is: Clean-cut? Mummy's boy? Tory Boy? Lacking any personality? Devoid of passion? A kind of junior understudy to Sir Cliff? I'm convinced it's not just because he underperforms and loses key games. It's deeper than that.

What is it that creates that involuntary sneer, that curl of the lip in so many of his compatriots? Oh no, there he is!! Arrgggghh!!!

 

[Parson Henry]

Why does Henman create that in so many people? After all, he is actually a very good tennis player - not a great, but very good; you can't deny that.

But, just by simply appearing on a TV screen or worse still, a tennis court - anywhere - he creates the most terrifying inner rages and loathings for which there is no explanation, and no cure.

Is it simply because he is: Clean-cut? Mummy's boy? Tory Boy? Lacking any personality? Devoid of passion? A kind of junior understudy to Sir Cliff? I'm convinced it's not just because he underperforms and loses key games. It's deeper than that.

What is it that creates that involuntary sneer, that curl of the lip in so many of his compatriots? Oh no, there he is!! Arrgggghh!!!

For me it is not him..it is the hype that surrounds him from all classes of Englands social structures who endear themselves to him in a blind and irrational faith

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I think it is that people see him as a public schoolboy with rich parents that got where he did due to having money.

He is obviously not devoid of passion and I really don't think we see the real person when they are interviewed on TV.

Look at Steve Davis. He was seen by many as being a very boring person and now he has come out of his shell and we see the real person. Not everyone is a natural in front of the camera.

I like Tim. He is an honest chap who is very good at his sport and gives it his best shot.

Henman - He's alright!

 

[tedebear]

What annoys me is that in the eyes of some people Henman should have "given up" donkies ago...But he doesn't and he keeps going and trying his darndest...Good on him I say...

He isn't the greatest - but he's a darn sight better than most and for that he deserves respect and support!!

 

[Dandyman]

Why does Henman create that in so many people? After all, he is actually a very good tennis player - not a great, but very good; you can't deny that.

But, just by simply appearing on a TV screen or worse still, a tennis court - anywhere - he creates the most terrifying inner rages and loathings for which there is no explanation, and no cure.

Is it simply because he is: Clean-cut? Mummy's boy? Tory Boy? Lacking any personality? Devoid of passion? A kind of junior understudy to Sir Cliff? I'm convinced it's not just because he underperforms and loses key games. It's deeper than that.

What is it that creates that involuntary sneer, that curl of the lip in so many of his compatriots? Oh no, there he is!! Arrgggghh!!!

Naff, white bread, Daily Mail pin-up, Pony Club mummy's boy. Can't stand him.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I think it's partly to do with the hordes of middle England ladies of a certain age who attach themselves to him each year, convinced he's going to win Wimbledon. They're embarrassing.

Yes, he was a half decent player, but only those with completely blind faith ever believed he really had the class needed to beat the absolute top echelon of the game- Federer, Sampras, even Roddick and Hewitt. He was always a step short of them- not his fault, and better than anything else we had, but still not quite a world beater. Henman is the Newcastle United of the tennis world- always therebouts in the top division, well supported, but you know they're never going to win anything, and they'll bottle it every time they come up against one of the real winners of the game.

The annoyance for the rest of us is seeing the BBC and the rest of the media devote acres of coverage annually to Our Timmy's hopes, despite the fact that tennis is a minority sport, played largely by the well off. It (and Henman) only gets the coverage he does because the people in the positions who count at the BBC are the of the same type and social position as those whose 40 something wives camp out on Henman Hill screeching in an embarrassing manner, and clapping along to the sort of chant they might have sung at their school lacrosse matches in the 1960s ("Henman! clap clap clap! Henman! clap clap clap!"). Because they think singing is what one does at sports fixtures, after all, they've seen those terribly working class football fans do it, haven't they?

PS What kind of name is Tim for a sporting hero anyway?

 

[Willow]

It's inverse snobbery, as can be seen in some of the posts above.

 

[Gazwag]

British tennis players will never win anything because they have no fight.

When they are young their parents must have a lot of money to be able to afford the coaching to make them good juniors.

When they are good enough the then get everything paid for by the Lottery (or sports for england or whatever its called)

They go from spoilt kids to spoilt adults

Never do they have to fight to win matches in order to eat etc for the next few weeks until the next tournament

 

[Man of Harveys]

It's inverse snobbery, as can be seen in some of the posts above.

In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the twisted British class system, along with a decline in public leisure provision, is responsible for the lack of a truly world-beating British tennis player in recent years.

I've nothing against Henman for being posh but if you're only providing good facilities to the lucky gene club who have private courts (as I think Timmy had at home as a child) or access to expensive private clubs, you're giving yourself no chance whatsoever.

 

[Grendel]

I don't feel any particular animosity towards the bloke. What gets me is the people that think he's some sort of tennis genius, when he's proved time and time again that he isn't good enough to win a major tournament.

 

[Tooting Gull]

I agree with MoH, all the time your search for a champion is effectively limited to the very rich or those that toe a particular social line at posh clubs, you've got no chance.

Tennis has paid lip service to 'taking it out to the people' with various programmes, but it is largely a charade. They don't want the oiks in, as virtually anyone who has been a member of a tennis club can confirm.

The fact is the people tennis club toffs would consider 'oiks' are generally the winners in sports like football and boxing. But if you lose all the most talented sportsmen to other sports at a young age, you're toast.

There can never have been a case where a sport and its followers have so deliberately and wilfully condemned themselves to second-tier elite status in order to preserve some sort of post-colonial atmosphere in their after-work knockabout.

They don't even realise they're shooting themselves in the foot, or if they do, they don't care. Better to be shit than have the 'wrong sort' on the courts. Truly unbelievable.

And the irony is, with the huge sponsorship the rare good player in this country gets in tennis, for all but say top Premiership-class footballers the better living might be in tennis for a teenager weighing it up.

You could be quite average and earn comfortably six figures, maybe a lot more. But youngsters, understandably, can't see past the crap image.