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LONDON - Tim Henman bid farewell to tennis by leading Britain back into the Davis Cup World Group on Sunday (NZ time).
Henman capped his 14-year professional career by partnering Jamie Murray to a 4-6 6-4 7-6 7-5 victory over Croatian pair Marin Cilic and Lovro Zovko, giving the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead.
"I couldn't have written a better script," the 33-year-old told the 11,400 fans packed into Wimbledon's Court One.
"I've always loved representing my country and playing at Wimbledon, and to finish my career doing both is a dream come true.
"It's been an amazing weekend, the crowd have been fantastic and I'll cherish these memories for the rest of my life.
"It's strange to think that I'm never going to be in this position again but I'm still happy with my decision and I feel the time is right to move on."
Henman, who also won his opening singles rubber on Friday, partnered Wimbledon mixed doubles champion Murray to lead Britain back into the elite group for the first time since 2003.
Doubles specialist Murray proved to be the weak link initially as Britain lost the first set after he dropped his serve at 4-5.
He had to save two more break points early in the second set but once he had managed to overcome that wobble, the British pair hung on to claim victory.
"Jamie was brilliant too, it's the first time we played together and I thought we combined really well," said Henman.
"We were aggressive and we took most of our chances and we responded well after losing the opening set.
"Our goal was to get back into the World Group and we've done that, now it's up to Andy and the rest of the team to respond to the challenge of trying to stay there in the future."
- REUTERS
