Andy's dominance in the UK

steven · Tennis legend

Andy's dominance in the UK

mkkreuk · Admin:Moderator + ATP qualifying

fed's loss to canas you mean, not chela.

that stat is quite impressive for andy, but on teh other hand it shows the lack of british players at the very top.

RobC · All-time great

mkkreuk wrote:

fed's loss to canas you mean, not chela.

that stat is quite impressive for andy, but on teh other hand it shows the lack of british players at the very top.

True, but when I start getting depressed at that, I like to compare how we're doing against Australia and Sweden 2 countries with a great tennis tradition:

GBR                      AUS                 SWE
Murray    14            Hewitt       20     Soderling   27
Henman      44            Guccione    111    Bjorkman    39
Bogdanovic 153            Philippousis123     ToJo        85
Bloomfield 176            Arthurs     160    Vinciguerra145
Goodall    213            Healey      183     PimPim     157
Marray     241            Jones       211     Prpic      237
Rusedski   245            Luczak      246    Ryderstedt 292
Baker      249            Baccanello  253     Sarstrand  353
Mackin     275            Smeets      263     Adaktussen 361
Lee        328            Sirianni     20     Rhenquist  419

- and it does'nt look too bad

(Of course when I want to feel depressed, I look at Belgium )

steven · Tennis legend

Me too, I know exactly what you mean. Then again, AUS & SWE both have much lower populations than us. I've been particularly amazed at Australia's recent decline though, they're in the same kind of extreme crisis as we were in before Greg & Tim came along.

RobC · All-time great

yep, but then you get into the usual argument about tennis being sport number 6 or 7 in the UK, behind football, cricket, racing, rugby union, rugby league, athletics, boxing etc, compared with Sweden where (my perception) is that it's number 2 behind soccer. And then the argument that Australia is both Sport crazy and has the perfect climate for summer sports....

RobC · All-time great

( I still don't get why Belgium is so good at Tennis. Suddenly.)

andyjmr · Intermediate Club Player

steven wrote:

I've been particularly amazed at Australia's recent decline though, they're in the same kind of extreme crisis as we were in before Greg & Tim came along.

Your comment sparked my curiosity Steven. i found this article which seems to offer some pretty good reasons for the state of Australian tennis ...

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Tennis/The-game-plan-to-reign-like-Spain/2004/12/21/1103391772919.html

Salmon · Tennis legend

Mind it, Joachim Johansson and Vinciguerra are under ranked due to injury. Pim Pim's true place is in the top ten or even top five, while Vinciguerra should be in the top hundred at least.

Australia has some relief on its way. Lindahl is 18 and is on the verge of cracking the top 300, Greg Jones turned 18 a few months ago but has reached the finals of a Challenger and most impressive of them all - Brydan Klein, who is 17 and 2 but defeated Sijsling and then dragged Fleishman to three sets last week.

God help Sweden when Bjorkman and ToJo call it a day...

johnnylad · Tennis legend

GBR has a great tennis future too!

DUSTY DICK · Club Coach

Things do finally seem to be on the up with British Tennis. We have done really well with Henman and Rusedski but I feel there is just a bigger buzz at all levels of tennis now. Draper taking charge last year seems to have energised people more now and there really seems to be a structure in place now that could finally deliver better times for British Tennis. The Murrays seem to be leading the way in singles and doubles and everyone else finally seems to want to give that little bit extra to improve thereselves. Andy is really good and so focused and determined at where he wants to get to. He is prepared to die out there to be a champion and is really going to inspire more youngsters to take up tennis and be like him in a way that Henman for all his brilliance has never quite been able to pull off.