Retired British tennis legend Tim Henman has a hill at Wimbledon named after him. Despite never winning a Grand Slam, Henman has long been a respected player and voice about the game after retirement. For this reason, ATP officials should take note of the comments he made on a TNT interview during Saturday’s French Open coverage.
A packed Henman Hill for the final day at Wimbledon 📺🎾 pic.twitter.com/ixJGhoQaA1
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) July 14, 2024
Henman joins the list of people saying that the tennis schedule needs to be changed. He says there is too much tennis which is detrimental to the players and the fans.
Players like Alex de Minaur and Casper Ruud have spoken about this year in Paris. Whether it is mental and physical exhaustion or injuries, they believe tennis needs to reevaluate the 11 month schedule that can cause player burnout.
Tim Henman’s Thoughts
Henman was among the first to speak about how too much tennis affects fans. He cites fan fatigue particularly the week after a Grand Slam tournament. Tim Henman believes there should be no tennis then so everyone can rest and rejuvenate.
“There’s too much irrelevant tennis” 🗣️
Tim Henman believes less tennis could be a good thing for players, tournaments and fans.#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/qtcRL4jmcE
— TNT Sports (@tntsports) May 31, 2025
He admits that some tournaments may need to be eliminated which could be a painful process if tennis truly does an introspective review of its operations; however, he said it will be the best in the long run.
Henman said that players are not really seeing the financial payoff from playing in all of these tournaments. The prize money is not stellar, and in some cases, they are playing in empty stadiums.
Example after example shows us that tennis needs to make these painful but necessary changes. Arthur Fils is the latest to retire mid-tournament with a back injury that he hopes can be healed enough to play at Wimbledon. Playing deeper into the French Open, his home tournament,could elongate the 20-year-old’s absence from the ATP Tour. What a horrible decision it is to walk away from his best success at his home tournament because he needs to manage his points and rankings situation for the rest of the season.
Arthur Fils has a stress fracture in his back and could miss Wimbledon.
Expected to be out 4-6 weeks.
“We decided with the team it was better to stop now, because if I’m stopping now, I could stop for only four to six weeks. If I was pushing myself too much, I would probably… pic.twitter.com/ICyVFvQtpF
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) May 31, 2025
Hopefully more former players of Henman’s stature speak up to initiate significant change in the sport.
