A poignant photograph of British tennis player Tim Henman exiting centre stage at Wimbledon has won a Highly Commended in the Rolex Wimbledon Picture of the Year Competition.

The image was captured in what would later become Henman?s last Wimbledon tournament. It was captured by photographer Antoine Couvercelle and published in Tennis Magazine France.

Henman recently announced plans to retire after Great Britain?s Davis Cup battle against Croatia next month.

The overall winner of the Rolex-sponsored photo contest was Steve Bardens, who works for picture agency Offside Sports Photography.

Steve used a Canon EOS-1D Mark II with a 70-200mm f/2.8 L lens, captured at 1/1000sec at f/4 (ISO 400).

The winning shot ? which shows Venus Williams playing against Maria Sharapova in this year?s Ladies Quarter Finals ? beat more than 750 other pictures to top spot.

Also winning Highly Commended honours were Ryan Pierce (Getty Images), Sergio Carmona (Tennis A Fondo), Karwai Tang (Alpha Press) and Ron Angle (ESPN Magazine).

Entries were judged on impact, interest and technical merit.

Organisers say they had to wait until the winners returned from their summer holidays before announcing the names.

Picture credit: Antoine Couvercelle (Tennis Magazine France)

Rolex Wimbledon: Antoine Couvercelle

Picture credit (below): Steve Bardens (Offside Sports Photography)

Rolex Wimbledon: Steve Bardens