91Èȱ¬

What is the equivalent of an own goal in tennis? :-(

Great blog - it is painful to watch the continuing decline of British Tennis. To me it is simple - we need to attract athletic youngsters into tennis and teach them to play - sounds easier then trying to make athletes out of people who can hit a ball! With the money that has been put into tennis we should have three men in the top 100 - but I fear that many with true potential drift off into other sports that the media give more attention to - let's face it most people only care about tennis during 2 weeks of Wimbledon!

The club I play for have no contact with the LTA, its expensive and delivers nothing for junior player development. I also agree with Mrs Murray's approach of keeping kids playing league tennis in their clubs as part of their development, you learn a lot being frustrated by more "mature" players!

Johnathan...completely agree with your sentiments.
So much has been said on here and in the press about "grass roots", ad nauseum, that the LTA seem to have subliminally got the message, but are not prioritising their efforts, still, in the right areas.
OK, its a great idea to keep our players in the pro mould for longer, but when they eventually retire, what then ?
But still, I will be giving Leon as much room as possible before I start to criticise him for whatever. He seems a nice chap with enough respect from the British players and even though he has no DC experience or any slam participation, (that may actually be an advantage atm), he does have extensive coaching abilities, which with the present state of British Tennis, is all you really need to be honest.

I have never heard such a load of rubbish listening to Roger Draper this morning on R4 when interviewed about the state of British tennis!
He brushed aside almost every question including why an independent investigation into the Davis Cup debacle was not instigated!
In addition and even more worrying is that he thinks British womens tennis is "doing well" - who is he trying to kid with that rubbish? British women's tennis is in the same state that it always has been with the same faces - same old same old! If he thinks that Baltacha or Keothavong have any chance of winning a major tournament then he is just deluded! Once these players have shown their faces for more than a year or two then they become cannon fodder for the main tour! Britain, apart from Andy Murray is the laughing stock of the professional tennis world.
No, it is high time an INDEPENDENT review of the LTA was carried out so that the vast sums that WE (yes us! the people who pay for the Wimbledon tickets etc) get the results we deserve!

#1 - I think it's like dumping a volley into the net.

Good luck to Leon Smith, you're going to need it! Personally I don't think this will make a bit of difference to how our players play in the Davis Cup but at least Leon's already an LTA employee so he's not cost them an arm and a leg to bring in (Brad Gilbert springs to mind here, what a fabulous idea that was!). Let's face it, everything about the system is quite clearly flawed. If it wasn't then we'd have better players coming through. Clearly things aren't working at a junor level, you can't turn average players into world beaters when they're 18. The work needs to be done when they're younger and it's clear it isn't happening.

I just think it's sad that there is all this money in tennis going towards producing sub-standard players. You look at other sports that have a fraction of the money and we have athletes competing at the top end of their fields, like some winter sports. Imagine what they could do with the money the LTA gets. That's what's so frustrating, you can see just how much money the LTA must be wasting.

There simply aren't enough people playing tennis in this country for us to be able to be a major force.

It's ok people coming on here and saying that we need to get things right at grass roots level. I agree with the sentiment but in reality it's very difficult to enforce.

Playing tennis in schools is so difficult as you need 30-40 tennis racquets, loads of tennis balls, and then a maximum of two people are going to be giving limited coaching. In comparison with other sports, like football, rugby or athletics, tennis is a very difficult sport to teach at school level.

At club level tennis just isn't accessible enough. There is one tennis club near where I live, but it's so expensive to join that I would neve dream of going for a game of tennis there. So the only people who are playing there are those with money.

The real issue here is that despite the efforts of the LTA, tennis is still very much a middle class sport in this country, and until it truly shakes off those shackles, we won't be a force.

Good points raised Mr Overend.

Considering the budget, facilities, population, and interest gained from hosting the world's premier tennis tournament, the output is pitiful. A complete, bottom-up overhaul of the entire system is required, although this needs to be done by people with more knowledge than me, and more knowledge than many of the current LTA top brass.

Murray playing Davis cup would let the LTA management off the hook of their failure. I hope he resists, so that not only do the results/standing present a true reflection of the state of British tennis overall, but a full enquiry into the way the LTA is run will be precipitated, and not delayed by a Murray rescue act.

Agree with Andy at comment #7. However...

I don't have an issue as an adult paying for a tennis club. I'm in my 30's, working class and if yopu search around you can find a reasonably priced club (in the area where I live anyway)

What I object to though, and this is a crucial point, is that my kids would have to pay too. Surely one of the ways that tennis clubs could be used to help out is to allow free usage for juniors. Then perhaps we wouldnt have the issue of cost, and we might get more people started in the game. I'm never going to be a pro tennis player. But one of my kids might. But I cant afford 3 tennis club memberships. Hence we'l never know. Allowing these courts to be used by kikds might unearth a few up and coming kids around the country. I'd rather see a chunk of the LTA's £60m subsidising such a scheme. Am I being naive?? Hope not

"Martens wants to keep them in the sport for longer, even if only at club level, claiming a stronger "base" will help improve standards across the board."

Having more cash in the sport in terms of prize money to keep 'average' GB players going for longer doesn't actually help raise standards. What it MAY do however is to enhance the incentives of club coaches if the clubs are given a proportion of their players prize money. More importantly, it may provide more security for those real prospects who may become international quality with time but currently choose at 16 or 18 to focus on their education or alternative career rather than take the risk of committing to a sport where, as you say, it costs more to travel to a tournament than you make back in prize money and the chances of reaching the very top (like in all sports) remain slim.

"Did Murray express a preference? We are told not.

In that case, he should probably get behind the LTA selection and stop worrying about the motives behind it."

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Oh come off it. They have put his friend up for the job in the blatant attempt to turn the emotional screw and make him play. And then they ask his opinion on the appointment! There's no way he could express a preference. If he says no, then he's voting against his good friend getting the job. If he says yes, then the LTA turns round and says, "We asked you who you wanted, you said you wanted your friend in, we put him in for you. You can't turn round and say you're not playing."

Question their motives? You bet!

Don't claim to know Andy personally, but if this was me, the fact they had appointed my mate as captain to try and twist my arm would make me considerably more likely to ditch the whole thing for good.

It's crystal clear that the LTA aren't running a "popularity contest."

If they were, the lot of them would be out on their arses!

#2
'but I fear that many with true potential drift off into other sports that the media give more attention to - let's face it most people only care about tennis during 2 weeks of Wimbledon!'

I think Tennis gets quite a lot of attention and interest through the year and a fair deal with the media and has remained strong even in times of poor British performances.
The other Grand Slams (French and Wimbledon) are well covered on the 91Èȱ¬ so remain accessible to the masses rather than pushed into Sky for a minority audience. The British public do get into these tournament especially when a British player does well. The ATP finals in November also get good coverage and interest. Davis Cup is viewed too.
I think Tennis is popular and gets good interest from the media. However obviously success breeds more interest.

If players are not playing I don't think it is due to lack of media coverage or '2 week Wimbledon sydrome'. Countries like Sweden and Germany have thrived down the years with no Wimbledon factor and Sweden get poor weather too.

I think it is more to do with the facilities and the attitude of tennis clubs and also schools, who offer just a try at the sport. The clubs still come across as elitist and stuffy to me, and are relatively expensive, and are often run by people keen to keep their ticket privileges at Wimbledon for themselves. I remember at school we had about 4 hours tennis a year, with dreadful coaching and no after school team to follow up with.
I don't think kids care about what is covered by the media, some do, but not all. Some will play if it fun, engaging and accessible. I also think short tennis should be played more at schools as it can sometimes be very hard for kids to have a decent game of full tennis with the fast ball and big court. Short tennis can teach them stroke play as they can have decent rallies. Again at school this fun game was not played enough.
Get the kids playing and enough will come through the pipeline, assuming they are spotted and nutured.

*Other Grand Slams (French and Australian)

This is all very odd. Since when did anyone decide when they would like to play for their country or not, with the exception of Ryan Giggs of course!! Surely playing for your country is the ultimate accolade. But so often now in football etc you get the impression that it is merely a necessity of the job rather than the whole reason you play the game. So when Andy Murray says he doesn't want to play for his country then so be it, as far as i would be concerned, that would be the end of his Davis Cup career. I agree totally with John Lloyd's comments and sympathise with him. The LTA needs to get a backbone and forget about trying to entice Murray to play and concentrate on getting the best coach they can and limiting their expectations with what we have and build a team and a structure in bite size chunks. Let's move on and accept that we are poor at the moment and work towards building on what we have without the distraction of Andy Murray who clearly thinks he is more important than the nation that supports him !!

Tennis has always been different to team sports like football, rugby and cricket when it comes to playing for your country. In football the ultimate accolade is winning the world cup in tennis the 4 majors clearly take precedence. Also getting selected to play for your country is percieved completly differently in the sports, which is at the route of the problem.

I am very sceptical at this appointment but wish Leon Smith luck which to be fair he is going to need. He wasnt a name I exspected but hopefully he will bring something different and can change the fortunes of team GB.
We should be able to beat nations such as Turkey and Lithuaina with or without Andy Murray no disprespt to them. We have alot more funding but has produced nothing, the Lithuanian players seemed hungry to win ours didnt.

#15
I don't find it that odd, whilst there are patriotic people around in all walks of life, many are not and they put themselves before their country. Others will help out a little , there are degrees of it etc. I would say as the generations have passed the ratio has grown more between those who care of self most above those who care about country.
Why should sport be any different?

For many individuals yes in many sports the national team remains a high point and success in that success reprsenting the country can be the most they can achieve both as an individual and for the country too. The individuals' gain will be the country's gain too as their goals are aligned.
However for other individuals their main path to success - sometimes due to the lack of ability of their colleagues or the way they were treated by the national team - their own personal background and motivations does not lie with representing their country and seems to be in conflict with their personal goals.
Examples:
Murray putting Grand Slam victory over the Davis Cup.
Giggs putting Man U over Wales.
Scholes putting Man U career over England.
Carragher putting Liverpool career over England.
Tiger Woods and his quest to win most Grand Slams over the Ryder Cup which he seems to care far less for.
Nadal and Federer and their quest to be no 1 and win many Grand Slams over the Davis Cup.

For these guys they see their day job as their priority and focus - not the now and then of the national team.
In the same way many football managers prefer to be a club manager than face the sitting around of national management.

You can argue that the above are selfish but I think they are all exercising the right to focus and choose the most successful path for their own career - something we have all got used to in our own lives.
Murray is not saying he wont play Davis Cup, he is just seeing the point over playing in a losing team to the cost of his individual glory.
One can also argue that Murray focusing on the Grand Slams and winning a few in the next few years, including finally a British Men's singles winner at Wimbledon, would be more benefit to British tennis and the main goal he should aim for - than Murray straining to win a few Davis Cup matches but ultimately us losing because his support in the team is so poor.
I back Murray to achieve this main goal and think he is the kind of guy that will only get where he can go when he is left to choose his own way.

Woof Woof! Smith's been picked for two reasons: 1. As you say, to get Murray into the side and 2. Because he's in the LTA, and is one of Drapers lapdogs.

Rusedski may not be a tactical genius, but he could inspire the players and he would almost certainly have given them a huge kick up the backside.

Smith on the other hand has been head of development for a year or two, so to put that in perspective, he's been keeping an eye on the likes of Dan Evans, Jamie Ward and so on through crucial years of development. Granted, he's not responsible for the lack of talent coming from grassroots, but he's done nothing to help the current crop at all. If anything, instead of getting extra jobs, he may well have deserved the bullet as part of that farcical 'internal review' the LTA did to make sure they looked like they were doing something whilst keeping their backsides, and salaries, safe.

Already he's making the wrong sounds. He said he may "possibly" consider Bogdanovic for the future. Possibly?! Like he has any choice! Bogdanovic is the best of a horrifically bad bunch and is the only player guaranteed to beat the Turksih players if Murray decides he can't be bothered. Evans, Baker, Ward e.t.c simply aren't up to scratch, and despite superior rankings I wouldn't be surprised if the Turks beat us with Boggo or Murray.

But still, as much as I think we've gone the wrong way here, he's worth a shot... surely he can't do worse than Lloyd, right?

Andy Murrays behaviour/attitude with regard playing Davis Cup tennis for his country is a disgrace. He wants to pick and choose when he play but also feels the LTA should consult him about decisions to do with the team. Is it honestly too much to ask for him to play possibly 6 singles matches for his country in a year? I'd be happier if the LTA asked him straight to either commit to the cause or announce he has no intention of playing at all. Andy Murray clearly has his own agenda and that isnt for the benefit of British tennis or British tennis fans (look at his Olympic performance in 2008 for further proof)..... So what if he wins a grand slam he's a role model to our younger players and if a young star does come through the ranks to break the world top 100 will it be ok for them to concentrate on their own career and turn their back on playing for their country like Andy Murray has? Its easy to blame the respective sporting institutions but representing your country is an honour regardless of the standard of the other team members. Could you of imagined a legend like George Best announcing that playing for NIR would of been a waste of his time.

Their are a lot of good comments here and all well meaning.

I believe there are a couple of issues.
Firstly with the money that has been invested in Andy although after the fact with coach fees he should be playing. To say I will see just is not good enough. The country and the LTa invested over £1m in him through Brad Gilbert as well as getting him started with wild cards into events a little pay back would not go amiss.
Secondly: as many have said the issue is not to concentrate on the players we have already but to develop the game at a younger age. The roadblock to this is cost! Setting up a national tennis centre in the south only exsassabtes this issue. Tennis clubs as already stated are very expensive and if you want to book a court to play tennis with your child at a sports centre this too is expensive.
The LTA need to stop lining their own pockets and start putting money where there mouths are. Subsidise kids playing tennis at sports centres, tennis clubs etc (look at how the Government led swimming has helped get more kids in the pool).
Look to set up a national league for kids to get involved in competition at an early age. Their are far smaller countries with far less resources doing a lot better than the UK in developing their players.

Leon Smith may be the best coach in the world but without the experiance of competition at the top level it is difficult to see how he can make an impact quickly or at all.

I am sadened at where we seem to be in Tennis terms but until the mindset changes at the top of the sport things are unlikely to change. Andy is not the answer to get this going as another comment said this just masks the problems as Tim and Greg did for many years.

The LTA have been missing the point for years. For what my club pays in affiliation fees we should be getting more help. The only way to get more decent players is by getting more kids playing. They keep pumping money into the elite players and forgetting about the local clubs. These clubs are where the kids will start playing. It seems to me that Roger Draper avoids any issues that he is confonted with and that rather then going forward we are going backwards fast. With Andy Murray at the top of the mens game it shouldn't be that hard to get kids interested. The LTA should use a larger portion of the money from Wimbledon to promote local clubs and get kids in.

Its a fair point to say its odd for Murray not to want to play for his country, but unfortunatley the top players just dont care about Davis Cup. What defines a tennis players career is Grand Slams not Davis Cup medals. Federer, Nadal, Roddick, Djockovic etc have all put their personal achivements before their countrys at some point in the past or present why should Murray? and is it a coincidence that those four players have all won a Grand Slam? maybe or maybe not!

And for Rodger Draper ive met him a couple of times when i used to play tennis and to say that he is a complete tool would be complement!
Bit like these bankers and politicians who sit in there armchairs in an expensive suit everyday making things a little bit worse, but convincing people that everything is great with silly stats and graphs!!

The LTA has been doing things completely wrong for many years. I disagree with the argument that there are not enough people playing the game at grass routes level to compete at the highest level internationally. As a nation we are the second best country in the world at golf (behind the USA) just look how many players we had competing at the masters last week. Yes, there are probably more people playing golf at grass routes level than tennis but not significantly more to produce this gulf in top level elite players in either sport. Also the argument that tennis isn’t played in schools and its too difficult to do this isn’t really a problem. Golf is not played in schools and this does not seem to be a problem. At the end of the day what it comes down to is the coaches. Within golf the coaches train for 3 years, learning every part of the game and not just technical models. The PGA training is so detailed that top quality coaches are continuously being produced to nurture talent at every level. As well as this coaches are informed about talent identification (another area lacking in British tennis). Within tennis the coaching badges take a few days and the coaches learn relatively nothing in comparison to the equivalent qualification in golf. What tennis needs is a complete restructuring of its coaching system and defined career paths for young coaches coming into the system. It is not difficult you just need the right people at the top to open their eyes and learn from sports in this country that have got it right (i.e golf).
Also I feel basic errors are being made at grass routes level in terms of talent identification. When I was a county junior player a lot of the focus was on players with good hand-eye co-ordination but most of these players weren’t ‘athletes’. I feel it is a common trend in British players that tey are not athletic enough, you only have to look at Murray when he came through and how unfit he was compared to everyone else. It wasn’t until he put a lot of hard work into his physical side that he started to produce more consistent results and fulfil his potential. You have to select natural athletes with good ball skills first as technique can be taught a lot easier than natural athleticism. Again this comes back to coach education. Get the coaching right and this country will being to produce some top 100 tennis players.

I think a couple of very good points have been made here.

On the Davis cup issue, there is little point of Andy Murray playing in a team where, regardless of his contribution, we will lose because he is not backed up by players that are capable of producing rubber winning performances. Additionally the 'payback for his funding comes through all the promotion and profile raising attributed to his development and place in the world elite of tennis.

The underlying issue of how to generate a better standard of player is complex however one thing I feel has not been mentioned is that there is a need for a competitive structure that brings together the potential and forces them to push each other and raise their level. It is a system that is used elsewhere but I think needs an overhaul in the UK as it is clearly not working. There are many ways to do this but the expense in tennis is not court fees, rackets etc as long term they stack up favourably for juniors in comparison to other sports. The real cost is that for a junior to progress they need a parent (or other willing helper) to take them to the network of tournaments that are spread over different tennis clubs. A solution would be to develop a network of regional centres where regular tournaments are held that have good transport links and are accessible. I think it is the lack of continuous competition that hurts british players, talent is not lacking competitive will is.

Reality at the moment is that we would probably do better in the Davis Cup by using Judy Murray as captain and just taking her 2 boys to play the tennis.

But wasn't this the same the last time we actually did any good in Davis Cup when it was the Lloyd brothers. Tim and Greg never actually got us to a semi final together, even though they were both top 10 players.

The question of whether Andy M plays Davis cup is totally up to him, although I would say that if he refuses then he shouldn't receive any support from the LTA - he may not anyway, but he certainly did. I don't think that would greatly affect him now, but might free funds to support lesser players or clubs and associations.

But surely if Murray is anything to go by then even if we produce the players of sufficient standard to put out a decent Davis Cup team, they'll all stick two fingers up to the team to try and win a grand slam?

Whatever the LTA do we'll always have a rubbish Davis Cup team made up of people who aren't good enough to play on the main tour and the British number ones big haired brother.

Appointing this guy ahead of Rusedski (who presumably now will never get the job because 50-1 on Tiger Tim will decide he does fancy a crack after all next time round) in an attempt to appease the surliest professional sportsman in Britain is a signal post in the history of sports administrators ineptitude.

A collective pat on the back for all concerned.

"Way back in a time when we were half-decent at tennis, LTA press conferences (especially announcements of Davis Cup captains) were austere affairs.

The very best Queen's Club function room would be reserved, with Pimms on the balcony if the afternoon went long. Oh for such heady days."

Oh maybe that's why British tennis is in the toilet because it's only played by the affluent and rich ? You've nailed it right there. Glad you ended up drinking coffee and not sipping Pimms in the super exclusive Queen's Club.

When will people understand that until British tennis is brought into the working man's home and away from public school and away from toffs like Sue Barker and co then British tennis will be played by upper / middle class players who don't really try hard enough because quite honestly they don't need to.

Look at the top players from around the world - they all come from either very sporting families or have really had to graft for their success. Andy Murray is where he is because he was brought out of the British system. Who can afford tennis lessons, coaching and the such in this country ? The middle classes.

Drinking Pimms at Queen's Club? Do me a favour...

I believe #7 & #10 are on the right track...

Tennis is an inefficient activity at school level (at least at most state schools) as few kids can play at a time and even fewer can receive any realistic coaching. Equipment is also generally more expensive to acquire and maintain.

Having the LTA subsidize club fees (without clubs taking advantage) could very lead to more juniors getting access to tennis and should definitely be something to consider. Perhaps subsidized tennis clubs/programs could be integrated into school facilities so access would be even easier for kids/parents who may not otherwise go off searching for private clubs.

I think you miss the point Jonathan. There are changes being made in the areas you say should have focus:

Schools, parks, clubs, coaches. Get those areas right and then we can worry about training blocks and prize money top-ups.

But if we get those right then you are going to have to wait at least 10 years to see the results. And yet you jump down the throat of the LTA for the professional performances... relatively speaking it is not a large % of money that is spent on the pro game but they have to keep topping up this support while the attacks continue on an area where everyone knows we are not performing. It is such an easy target that no one puts in the effort to find the success stories and publicise these - perhaps then offer groups would be inspired to make their clubs, courts, coaching bodies work...

British Tennis, and British Sport in general suffers from a malaise that is endemic to our society - we're overloaded with fluffy, soft-centred apologista's (if that's not a word then I've just had an Ian Dowie moment !!).

Competitive sport is not encouraged in school, success is not rewarded, money and attention are lavished on people for being "celebrities" when they're no different from the rest of us. The mediocre is encouraged, the average is rewarded and the mark of success is your wedding photo's in Hello magazine . . .

WAKE UP BRITAIN !!!!

I don't care when your family came to these shores, and I don't care what colour, creed, gender or sexual persuasion you are - if you're good at something then you're good at it. Jump up and down and show the world - demand that this country supports you and represent those of us who don't have or aspire to your talents. Be proud of this benighted island and it's globe spanning history.

If we sit around grumbling and saying "someone" should do something about it nothing will ever happen - it falls to us, all of us, to try and do something about it. Just look at the squabbling, peurile schoolchildren currently arguing over the Xbox controller . . . er, I mean who should be the next government.

NONE OF THEM.

That lot couldn't organise a food fight in a chipshop. There's 55 million people in this country and your telling me that the 200 people involved in the running of this country are the cream of the crop ?? I think not.

The same goes for sporting development and the future of this country's athletic pride - the people that "run" the LTA are hopelessly out of date - that much is clear and I know next to nothing about tennis.

Here's an idea - sit our top 50 male, female and junior equivalent tennis players down in a room with Daley Thompson, Kelly Holmes, Phil "The Power" Taylor, Martin Johnson & The Charlton Brothers. All British, all World Champions and all driven to be the best at what they do.

The Davis Cup captains job is not like a football managers job, Lets face it it can be done a couple of weeks before the tie with a quick look down the rankings, a cup of coffee and a few phone calls on your mobile to see who wants to play.
Also as someone who teaches tennis at a state school nearly all of you as well as the LTA are very boring with your imagination for how tennis has to be taught in state schools, It can be done well! it's not necessarily what is taught that matters as much as the structure that the teaching takes place in and as thegreatNEb suggested by adding and improving available facilities you can have a tennis environment with a great catchment of possible pupils in an affordable way.
What was the first thing that IMG did when it took over Bolletieris it built a school and made it a multi-sport venue.
State schools are the key especially academy run sports colleges and I hope for Roger the dodger he see's this before Wimbledon because if not it may just be one question to many.

Middle class sport for gutless middle class kids. Whilst we are looking for gifted pro's out of a tea cup other countries have built more courts per head and provided tennis cheaper to the masses leading to a river for tallent search.

Have you tried to hire an indoor court in winter? ££££

Build more courts, don't let football take them over as with previous park developments and LTA funding programmes. Invest in talented kids having more court time at an early age and look at using all the talent available instead of focusing on white middle class talent.

Taking up #22's point: if Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Roddick were going to commit to Davis Cup and play all their countries' ties, Murray should do likewise. Given that they don't, why should he handicap himself against them by doing so?

In terms of British prospects for Davis Cup, strength in depth seems to be a greater prerequisite than having one outstanding player (or even two). Perhaps we should defer discussion of Murray's involvement until we've found someone else - anyone - who has a chance of beating one of the top ten Spanish players, say.

An Upper middle class sport with the vast majority of the money invested still deliberately kept within that bracket.

Until we see a change in social perceptions of tennis and proactively give opportunities to all kids, regardless of class British Tennis will remain in the doldrums.

British tennis is a load of tosh. The worst is the LTA and the All England Club. I played on one of the outside courts a couple of years ago on a saturday morning; there was only one other court being used (by Tim Henman). Teenagers would love to play there, but the club is reserved for the exclusive use of a few useless individuals. I was born in Wimbledon and for 20 years lived 200 yards from the courts. UK tennis is run by a bunch of second rate egotists. How do we change that?

Why has Roger Draper not gone?
He is the guy who was given the job to revive British Tennis and guess what, he has not done a good Job has he?
He wants the other Players to play for the Davis Cup Team..why?
Roger Federer and Nadal and co play for their Country, why are we letting Murray pick and choose?
Either he wants to play or he doesnt thats all he needs to do.
Until Roger Draper has gone and the LTA Board full of people more bothered about Tennis then Money like the LTA are.

It's no good trotting out the old line about it being a middle class sport as though that explains everything!
Golf is a middle class sport, it's expensive too, but look at how good we've been at that compared to tennis in the last 30 years - 10 majors 1 senior major and countless tournament wins, and that's just the men!
The difference? - golf has an integrated system from the bottom to the very top and golfers' handicapping system is all about competition, constantly. One thing tennis bady needs in the UK, though, is the equivalent of municipal courses where anyone can just turn up and play, but have support and coaching on offer too. We have public courts, but where are the pros and the coaching at them, who competes and in what? Most of them are being turned into basketball courts through lack of use because the annual tennis mania during Wimbledon fortnight fizzles out...

Who cares if a bunch of journalists got free pimms or free coffee or nothing at all. Leon is a tremendous motivator, and he will not pander to the home counties LTA blazer brigade. He is an excellent selection.
The LTA is so far removed from grass roots tennis it needs people like Leon in key roles.
Their chief executive is paid more than the funding for the whole of Scotland!

"Way back in a time when we were half-decent at tennis, LTA press conferences (especially announcements of Davis Cup captains) were austere affairs.

The very best Queen's Club function room would be reserved, with Pimms on the balcony if the afternoon went long. Oh for such heady days."

Surely you mean they are 'austere' affairs now. Or maybe I don't know what austere means. Still I'm not a 91Èȱ¬ correspondent.

How many British parents are prepared to meet the financial and emotional demands of getting their child into top flight tennis? In the junior ranks, those kids who are good enough to get into nationals and other top flight tournaments need transport, to be chaperoned and invariably, their mummy and or daddy. This is why it is a middle class sport. Forget all the drivel about grass roots tennis. You need the backing of rich parents, OR, parents who are prepared to make all the sacrifices, financial and emotional.

I have trawled through the comments and there are many well meaning people... However, what these people do not realise is that by the time a tennis kid is around 13 or 14, the parents have to seriously consider fulltime tennis training. This means that the less well off will compromise the education of their child for the sake of their tennis development. Many other parents will err on the side of caution and put schooling before tennis. This is the British mentality.

So, please don't bang on about the solutions being to look at grassroots tennis and to build more indoor courts.

michael is 100% right....maybe the child stays in school here and gets a scholarship to a USA university and plays 4 years of top tennis(like James Blake) but to get up in the ITF junior ranking-full time tennis and loads of time and money are prerequisites.10,000 quality hours of tennis-That is what it takes to be a top pro.... local clubs funding etc is great but realistically anyone who does not compete internationally(at least in Europe) by the time they're 16 is not going to make it

We have got to think differently in tennis if we want a more competitive base in junior tennis. When Roger Draper started to recruit all of the top brass of overseas experts, I wrote to Bill Mountford and copied the LTA with some thoughts on this point - and needless to say did not receive any feedback other than an acknowledgement.

At the time the LTA were telling local offices that they had to get more juniors competing and I asked in my brief, if they had found out why juniors at club level were not competing! A simple matter of surveying the club coaches.

In two facilities in which I am involved each with over 250 juniors, only a handful compete regularly (they are the keen ones), so I surveyed all members and the concensus was that most did not like going on their own and possibly losing in the first and only match.

We need to look at other successful TEAM sports - football - cricket - rugby etc., juniors do not join a football club and not expect to play competitively, they know there is a match every saturday.

I suggested to the LTA that we should do the same and my idea was to have squads of say 8 juniors in two age/ability groups and they would play matches against other similar teams each week - I even worked out a format to cover this.

I coach about 100 juniors every week and as a coach there is not time to take individual players to a tournament, however if they were playing as a team it is far easier and there is the feeling of togetherness, even if they win or lose their individual games.

It's time to think outside the box.

All of the above comments carry the same or similar message. I look at my local park and think if the LTA gave me minimal funding for racquets, balls and basic coaching aids I could run a FREE weekly session for any junior that wanted to try and play tennis. There are no shortage of kids believe me that want to play. From this pool we will be able to have a team and like someone suggested get them to play competitively with other teams hopefully playing in local parks. Call it "The Park" league. If this was replicated across the country I am sure it would make a difference.

There are a lot of people out there who will give of their time freely for this sport that they love and enjoy and would have great pleasure from seeing someone progress and be successful.

I couldn't agree more with what you're saying in your blog, particularly the last 2 paragraphs. Mark Petchey said it: grass roots tennis is paid lip service and no more. Both my daughters play tennis and even though I do not for a moment consider them the be gifted or talented I cannot let them compete at their level (just county) without forking out thousands on pounds, all to pay expensive coaches and squad practice. Maybe our county is a-typical, but I hear the same story from other parents and know many who cannot even consider letting their children play tennis for the costs. So how can we do things differently? Let me give you an example.

I am Dutch and come from a typical village of about 8,000. Our tennis club, also typical, had 750 members, 300 juniors. These pay the equivalent of £55.00 a year in contributions plus £28.00 for 10 squads. In return we made competition tennis compulsory. The season started with 7 competition Saturdays. Kids love it: you play in a team, the weakest and strongest are in it together and the costs are negligible, just petrol to and from, every child plays at least 7 matches, more if they play singles and doubles, you get promoted, relegated and the whole excitement of competition sport is present. After this the tournament season starts and kids can play as many and as little tournaments as they like, but as their team and club mates play tournaments they, too, want to enter as many as they can. The clubs also organise their own club championships as well as serious and fun tournaments. For very little money the kids play all summer, every week, week days and weekends. I am not saying that the Dutch system is perfect, far from it, but we did produce a Wimbledon winner more recently than Britain, our ladies team still beats Britain and Thiemo de Bakker just made it through to the semis in Barcelona. Not bad for a 16 million nation.

So why can we not do the same here? Admittedly, the infrastructure of the country is different. Whereas all the kids step on their bikes after school and cycle to the club that is not practical in the UK. The school sports culture, whilst good to ensure all kids exercise, does not promote club membership, but I think the LTA could do a lot more to establish a route through to the clubs from the schools: it doesn't get more grass root than that! Bu I think the main obstacles are the directives of the LTA to the coaches to produce top players as quickly as possible and the commercial freedom of the coaches: exceptions aside they do not promote competition or even tournament tennis on Saturdays when they can charge £25-30 per hour for coaching, more when you stuff 10 kids in a squad.

I would like to see a serious debate about how to facilitate grass roots tennis in the public domain, with involvement of the LTA, coaches, players, parents and other stakeholders. Modern technology, e.g. blogs, social networking sites, etc. enable this type of debate very easily and I am sure that some very good ideas would surface very quickly. Tennis today is exclusive, not inclusive, and until that changes Grass Roots Tennis is a nice sound byte without any substance. Draper, take up the gauntlet. Mark Petchey was quite right, but if you don't want to step down then step it up!

Erwin,you make very good points.We watched Thiemo beat Tsonga yesterday-great match.One question-who paid for Thiemo's junior career as he played in tournaments all over the globe(Costa Rica,Australia,Mexico etc.)?And from what age?In fact-pick any 21 year old pro and it will be the same story-alot of funding to get there....

You're right, but that only applies to a very few really good ones: a few hundred around the globe in fact. The question is how you get those few hundred and the answer is by having tens of thousands playing regularly. As soon as they get better funding, and not to forget, parental commitment, become immense, but we need to get loads of players playing in order to get there in the first place. Look at France, look at Germany, look at Spain: thousands of youngsters playing and all they need is a racket and a pair of pumps, unlike here in Britain. Lots of schools have equipment, but very few pupils go on to play tennis. There isn't a club nearby, and if there is it simply costs too much to play. You have to be 1000% dedicated as a player from the age of 6 anyway, because there is no team element to it, so you're on your own. All that's enough to scare future players off. You cannot "produce" a Wimbledon winner, you can only be lucky to identify one from a large pool of players and then you can try to nurture them, but the sport has to be inclusive, not exclusive, for that to have any chance of succeeding. My comment was not made to show how good Thiemo is, but much more to use the Dutch model as an example and not the only one. There are undoubtedly many many more children playing tennis in the Netherlands and France and Germany and Spain, etc. That is what needs doing here too. Money and availability are great factors in that.

Lots of talk then about tennis being too expensive and inaccessible to the larger public. Let's see how this can be changed then and let's compare to other countries. For the top players with an international ranking to have to go abroad goes for every player. Ok, we have to cross the channel, but that's the only difference. How much should tennis cost at entry level, apart from a pair of shoes and a racket? I'm guessing here (although I have been treasurer of a tennis club so know what can be done). Note that this is outdoor, i.e. summer season only.
Membership - £75.00 per annum max. covering costs of facilities incl.courts
Coaching - £5.00 per squad max. based on 4-6 per squad.
Matches - £2.50 per match for balls per head in a team.

Do 2 squads per week, play 6 competition matches and that costs you £350.00. A recreational player can do 1 squad and spend £220.00. Not free, but in my view accessible to a large audience.

Winter brings additional costs for facilities and I think that if the LTA wants to make a wise investment they put a bubble over as many local club courts as they can, so that the season can be extended without significant costs for leisure centre memberships, petrol to far away destinations and expensive coaching. That is mostly what makes tennis so expensive at an entry level in my view.

A this point the LTA should encourage and incentivise coaches to organise as many competitions and tournaments as possible and to make players play with their friends to maximise court hours without coaching (and therefore costs). Example: on holiday in Spain we let our kids do a couple of hours squad coaching at a local club. The coach gave them an hour coaching and then sent them off in pairs to play a set or a match. Great practice, no costs.

Get any better and you progress to the next level. Add an hour of private coaching at £25-30, i.e. a further £750.00 per annum. In order to lower that threshold the LTA could fund this for the first hour to keep the costs down. If you want more you're on your own. Now we're already at a decent level of tennis, close to or at county level and the LTA can now put on county coaching sessions to top up coaching for those who show real potential. This should be as inclusive as possible: the drop out rate at teenage is frightening, so you cannot groom too many players.

I have no experience beyond this point, but I'm sure that there are answers for players at that level. My concern is about grass roots tennis and getting the masses to play. Schools are willing to cooperate but do not have the skills sets and the equipment, although many have. The LTA should invest there, too, but with the aim to get players into the clubs. It's no use putting a coach in a school for six weeks, after which everything dies a quiet death again. Get coaches in to the schools and work on making the kids enthusiastic enough to join the local club.

All this takes a fraction of the money the LTA spends unwisely today. Why on earth do we need to spend millions on management when there are obviously many people with the right ideas around? For the combined salaries of the LTA board we can let 15,000!! kids play a squad per week for a whole season!