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Steven Martens has been the LTA's player director since June 2008. Photograph: Getty

A keen scientific eye for methodology, physical analysis and data collection has attracted criticism - some feel he has created a coaching framework which is too rigid - but Martens firmly believes he is heading in the right direction.

"I think it's important we keep spirits high," he says, as we chat on the terrace of the Roland Garros player lounge.

"We've got the coaches in place, a great set-up of training centres working with different players - it's a matter of time, hard work, dedication and not giving up.

"For men's tennis is a big change from a perspective of leadership. He's very close to the players but with new and young ambition.

"We know that the evolution is taking a long time - the evolution from . Many times this is deceptive. We think that when they're good in juniors, one or two years later they'll be good in the pros. Reality says on average that's more like four or five years."

Martens points to , who was world number one junior back in 2006 but has only established himself on the main tour this year. The current thinking is that more patience is required with talented juniors.

However, there are many examples of other players, not least himself, who have made the transition more swiftly and effectively.

In reality, and . This is a sorry statistic considering the millions which have been invested at performance level in search of 'quick wins'.

"These players are not at their career-high ranking, this is true," admits Martens.

"But James Ward has been struggling with some illness, Jamie Baker has been struggling with severe illness. We don't have enough players at that level, that's more important than whether they're at career-high rankings."

Martens admits that a funding balance has to be found in order to properly incentivise the players, without forcing them to quit the game.

"The world of tennis is such that ," he says. "Whether that's a national federation, a management group, sponsor or maybe their parents.

"At the phase between, say, 18 and 22, you make little money, you spend a lot of money on travel and coaches, it is very challenging. If you don't get the backing, or you don't have the parents who are able to do so [provide funding] it's impossible.

"You must find ways to support them and at the same time incentivise them. As well as a basic fix, we are thinking about ways to incentivise good results, especially when players get to the age of 21, 22 when gradually economic reality starts to kick in."

Martens will be losing one of his most experienced coaches in November . It's still unclear whether he would have been offered a new contract but the American isn't waiting to find out.

"Paul has a big impact on the way coaches think," says Martens. "He has worked a lot on their philosophy of dealing with young players and the hard world of the transition into the pro game.

"Not getting over excited with a win, not overly depressed with a loss - these kids are full of emotions and if he has left one strong legacy, it's especially that way of thinking."

As always, this talk of performance tennis and well paid coaches is pretty pointless without and providing more places for them to play. Only around a sixth of the LTA's income in 2009 was spent on facilities.

But Martens wants to address this and plug the "black holes" in British tennis facilities.

"One of the next steps we are making sure we do is a good 'mapping' exercise, where we can really see where there are gaps in provision and .

"When we do that we that we will have an infrastructure and quality programmes which will make the game stronger and stronger. The ambition is to have within the local vicinity good quality venues available."

Not before time. As Martens takes a more prominent role in British tennis, he knows the challenge he faces is getting bigger by the day.