The next DC captain ... (update: JL has now resigned)

wolf · Tennis legend

RE: The next DC captain ... (update: JL has now resigned)

philwrig · Hall of fame

Jonathon Overend interviewed him about the state of British tennis after Wimbledon last year when the media knives were out after our perceived disastrous display. he must have been quite impressed.

Here is a link.

http://www.mctagroup.com/multimedia/podcast

It was at the same time Martens confirmed that Boggo wouldn't receive another wild card into the main draw.

indiana · Tennis legend

Ratty wrote:

Obviously it's kinda hard to say this in the midst of the current tsunami f bullsh*t from everyone and his uncle with theories about how to solve the longstanding "crisis" in British tennis, but let me ask a simple question.

Does Britain actually underperform at tennis?

Compared to the other big population west European countries ( Germany, France, Italy and Spain ), hugely.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 18th of March 2010 01:57:27 PM

johnnylad · Tennis legend

No we don't. Because the general population in those countries is more interested in playing tennis.

British kids play football and basketball. The latter is a sport we do seriously under perform in.

indiana · Tennis legend

OK, for whatever reasons, relative to our population size, tennis in this country underforms in getting folk ( particularly kids ) interested in playing tennis at all, and the reasons have been discussed at some length on this forum before. That obviously then has a big effect on our failure to produce many top ranked players compared to those other counties.

The err basketball thing has kind of passed me by smile

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 18th of March 2010 03:21:42 PM

LadyTigress · County player

I would have to agree with Indy. And closure of facilities where kids can have a go and get hooked and then go and train, on the road to becoming a tennis player, is definitely one contributing factor.

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

yeh i think he probably meant youngsters in innercity areas...it's more rugby and cricket everywhere else

Ratty · County player

Quite so. The people who would have been our other top 100 tennis players are in the England cricket team.

This is no joke, the skills of a batsman and a tennis player are very similar. And you can earn a living by being (say) the 100th best cricketer in Britain. It's a much more attractive proposition for a young talented sportsman.

France, Italy, Spain and Germany have no other summer sports to divert their prospective tennis pros.

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

Stuart Broad - 6'6 with good speed, terrific hands, good athleticism and very strong - just imagine what a great tennis player we could have made with those raw materials!

philwrig · Hall of fame

I would suggest that we do underform at tennis given the junior talent we have produced in the last 15 years. Where we struggle is taking decent junior players and developing them into top 100 senior players. I agree we have too many other sports attracting the same pool of talent but we could still do much better not as good as alot of European countries but still better.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

I think its true, i know they have other sports but as you say mostly no cricket or rugby etc, mainly just football. what about hockey?

maybe we play just too many sports. and there is much more domestic money in the other sports. Boggo makes a living at his level, but I doubt any of the others do.

SMC1809 · All-time great

I know the theme of this has been mentioned before, but I was considering the relative incomes of the 150th ranked tennis player and the 150th best football player in the world. I realise there's no official football player rankings, but someone like Frank Lampard would fall somewhere in that vacinity.

From reports, I understand his income (without endorsements) is in the region of £80,000 per week. Roughly 50 times greater than Boggo? No wonder kids are drawn towards football rather than tennis.

philwrig · Hall of fame

I think Frank would be a little bit disappointed with 150th position but I get your point.

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Peter Crouch was a very good tennis player at County level before choosing football

James · Satellite level

Apologies if this has already been posted: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/8574745.stm

A truthful if scathing interview with Mark Petchey. How has this man not been incorporated into the LTA?! He understands, feels and breathes tennis.. surely the type of character that should be most treasured.