Oxfordshire's Tim Henman insisted he was "the best he could have been" after announcing his retirement from tennis.

The former world No 4 and ex-British No 1 will play his final match as a professional in the Davis Cup tie with Croatia next month.

Persistent injuries have caught up with the 32-year-old, who now plans to spent more time at his Aston Tirrold home with his wife Lucy, who is expecting their third child.

In bringing down the curtain on a career in which he won 11 ATP Tour titles but was beaten in six grand slam semi-finals, Henman said: "There are many people who didn't win grand slams.

It was at Wimbledon that Henman flirted with success most often, reaching the semi-finals in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002, only to suffer disappointment each time.

"I'll be the first to admit that although my record is good at Wimbledon, it was always a goal of mine to win it," Henman said.

"Am I disappointed I didn't? Yes. But I am able to to reflect at the end of my career that I was able to maximise my potential.

"I was always out there practising and playing as hard as I could. This is as good as I could have been."

His career will always be defined by what he did at SW19, but Henman hopes the memories can be about more than his failure to win there.

He continued: "I will probably be judged on whether I won Wimbledon or not.

"Is that right? I don't think it is. But I've judged myself against the best players in the world.

"Being number four in the world, reaching those semi-finals, I think makes you a good player.

"I've never professed to be anything more than that, but I think it sometimes gets tricky when you're just being judged by one tournament, which I understand is easy to do when you're living in the country."

Without a grand slam title to reflect on, Henman wants people to judge his career as a whole.

"I will reflect on many different moments in my career," he said.

"The overall consistency, when I reflect on the fact that I had eight years or so in the top 20 in the world, and five of those in the top 10, there's some pretty good consistent performances over the years."

Henman's announcement was not unexpected given his recent injuries and a rapid slide down the professional rankings to 92nd in the world.

"It's something I've been thinking about for some time," Henman said.

"The issues I've had with my back and the knock-on effect that's had on my practice and the way I've been able to prepare for events and on my performance, it's something that's been making my life harder - probably a little bit less enjoyable."

Henman has battled back and knee injuries for much of the year.

He thought he was over them, but a bad reaction from his back when he returned to the hard court at Washington gave him the sign that his time was almost up.

"Practising on the hard courts and preparing for Washington and the way I felt in my match there, it became a little more clear cut for me," he said.

"With the problems I had with my back, it was an uphill battle and one that was getting harder and harder.

"With the level of tennis I've played and what I've achieved, I didn't want to just keep plugging away with no reward."

With the Davis Cup match coming up at Wimbledon, Henman saw the perfect way to go out.

"It wasn't something I planned - that the Davis Cup would be the last event, but given the circumstances of it being at Wimbledon, it was something that seemed to fit.

"It has always been an honour to play in any event at the All England Club."

8:00am Saturday 25th August 2007

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