Once again, Wimbledon rolls round, and the television screens are paraded with mentions of strawberries and cream, and the occasional cry of ‘Come On Tim/Andy (or, by the second week, Rog)’.
A British player getting to the second week is considered a celebration, normally the only way into that holy grail is by serving the drinks in the dressing rooms, and this year, we pin our hopes on the best British talent, Andy Murray, expect, he isn’t really ours.
Much like the best Ice Hockey or Basketball players, he learned everything from his time in America, where he lived, breathed, ate, slept Tennis, and nothing else but Tennis. Sure, he didn’t get rid of his Scottish attitude, but there’s only so much the Americans can do.
So, let’s look at what the LTA has done for the British game, and in a short words, it’s nothing. Despite having millions of pounds thrown at it in everyway possible. Tennis Clubs across the country are only used during the time of Wimbledon, and the rest of the sport is spoilt by rich mummys and daddy’s throwing their dear darling Jimmy on the court with a Jack, Rich or Jamie for a bit of bish-bosh coaching.
Watching Elanor Baltacha was fantastic, just for the commentary alone. I was told that this is the new streamline Baltacha, she’s lost a lot of weight since last time apparently, despite the fact she could do with missing a few more meals. In fact, watching her being torn apart by a little (5ft 4in) Chinese player was almost comical. Imagine a game of tennis at your old primary school, where the fat girl had to do all the running and you pretty much get my drift.
Apparantly, the commentators also said she worked really hard at playing in the challenger and satilette tour games. Yet, minutes later, having chip-and-run (reference to her usual Friday nights, where she steals from the chippy and has to run away before she is caught), we are told she ‘doesn’t know how the play court positioning’.
What on earth do the LTA spend her coaching money on then? It’s like giving the world’s greatest football all the skills in the world and then throwing him in goal. Expect for the fact Baltacha doesn’t have all the skills in the world, or even some skills.
Maybe if the LTA started putting pressure on the players and coaches, we would start seeing rewards. Suggestion, if by the age of 24, a player is not showing the sufficient level of skills, both the coach and player have their fund removed, not reduced, removed.
This will force the player to either learn the skills, or learn that they are not good enough. I dread to think just how much money is thrown by the LTA at sending British players to play in secondary tournaments across the globe. The sort of events that would see players gain one or two rankings, from 654 in the world to 650, are a complete and utter waste of money. Why keep going for players like Bogdanovic, Baker, who are past it, and will never break into the world’s top 200, let only, 100, when that money should be reserved for trying to develop younger talent that, let’s face it, may actually do something with their careers.
The coaches would also be forced to buck up their ideas, when Brad Gilbert was brought into the LTA set-up, he was able to negotiate a high-rate of pay. This lead many other of the world’s ‘top’ coaches to sign up for little jobs with big money, without the pressure of having to succeed, too many are happy to just be going along for the ride, without actually putting their ‘expertise’ to the fore.
The players will no doubt whinge that they don’t get enough funding, quite simple really, it’s because your not good enough to gain sponsorship, your not good enough to be playing at a level that should be allowed to gain such funding, and your not good enough to be considered important on what the LTA should be doing next.
Instead, the LTA will claim its money well spent. As a result, I might take up tennis and become an international, I’m rubbish at tennis, but if I can get paid for being rubbish at something, then it has got to be worth doing.
