Sport England Hopeful About British Tennis
Sport England Hopeful About British Tennis
Sport England director Phil Smith believes that Britain can improve both the performance of its touring pros as well as up grassroots participation “We think they can be both achieved at the same time,” he told BBC Sport.
“British Cycling has managed to do both and that tells me it’s possible. I want the Lawn Tennis Association to have a big summer, winning as much as they possibly can with British players. I want the knock-on effect of that to be more people on tennis courts.”
The LTA has been accused of failing to grow participation and has been threatened by the loss of 10.3 million pounds in funding.
LTA statistics indicate that there are 4,118 places to play tennis in England, Scotland and Wales, 21,186 courts (1,645 of which are indoor) and 3,904 registered coaches. There are 2,594 free public courts and 16 free park coaching programs in the United Kingdom.
According to the BBC, despite similar populations of around 65 million, France has three times more clubs than Britain, 11,000 more courts, five times the number of indoor courts and 7,000 more coaches. France also has far more ranked pro players both on the ATP and WTA sides.
Spain, with a population of 47.3 million, is said to have 1,500 fewer clubs than Britain and a quarter of the courts, but 16,500 more coaches. It also far more ranked pros.
“We need to start again, no matter how long it takes,” said former British number one John Lloyd, “Spending money on players at the top has not worked. The important thing is to create a base from the bottom up.”
Britain does have one Grand Slam champion in Andy Murray a, promising teenage male in Kyle Edmund and two talented young WTA players in Laura Robson and Heather Watson.
The LTA says that in its Talent ID program, 58,000 juniors are competing in six or more matches a year, with 17,000 playing 20 or more.
“Kids have to compete more regularly,” said WTA pro Elena Baltacha, who works with juniors. “The more we get competing, the higher the quality is going to be. Then a filter begins to emerge and the strongest will survive.”
One British player told BBC that not enough players are pushing themselves past the point of no return.
Baltacha added that coaches need to be harder with the players.
The LTA is pushing Mini Tennis and claims that more than 110,000 children already play it.
“It’s really important we have an attractive offer at the entry point so we can bring kids into our sport in a fun and engaging way,” Oliver Scadgell, the LTA’s head of competitions and programs told BBC. “The more kids we get in, the more likely they are to progress through and maybe become the next Andy Murrays or Laura Robsons.”
There are also programs that are trying to make the sport cool to all economic levels of the population.
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