IT was an all Oxfordshire affair when tennis star Tim Henman presented a top award to leading sports writer John Parsons.

Parsons, tennis correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, who lives in north Oxford, was honoured at the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) annual awards ceremony in Monte Carlo.

He won the Ron Bookman media excellence trophy for his knowledge and insight reporting tennis all over the world.

And appropriately, Henman, from Weston-on-the-Green, was on hand to present the award at the Monte Carlo Sporting Club in front of 1,000 people, including Prince Rainier, Prince Albert and Princess Caroline.

Henman, who had earlier played in the ATP tournament in Monte Carlo, said he was delighted to be presented the award, Waterford crystal on an inscribed plinth, to a fellow Oxonian.

Parsons, a former Oxford Mail sports writer, is the first Briton to win the accolade for 20 years.

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