steven wrote:

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Nobody in Canada seems to have a bad word to say about Mr Downey (not in any online sources, anyway!), all of which suggests that this appointment will be a good test of how difficult (or not) the LTA chief exec job really is.

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 And whether the Brit media pack show a little more patience before they slag him off than they've shown in the past.

not getting the CEO job at the LTA was a slight disappointment but it was never realistic now focusing on A1 again & you know what  as marcus says that's  better for the GB tennis players if i focus on creating wealth at A1 I can justify a claim for an increased budget for a few more GB tennis players & hopefully GB hopefuls in other sports 

Coup Droit wrote:

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Indirectly linked is the appointment of Brit Chris Kermode as the ATP's executive chairman and president. Congrats and best wishes to him.

"indirectly" linked, I say, because, with Neil Harman kvetching and moaning about why Chris wasn't considered for the LTA post, it's nice to see him being taken down a peg or three by Magnus Norman.

(not saying that Neil might not actually have a teeny, slight point, for once, but nice to see all the same . . .. )

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Thanks, I hadn't seen that - philwrig and I tried to make much the same point to him, not realising it had already been made!

Given that Phil was spot on with his suggestion that Neil tends to use just about any tennis story as an excuse to bash the LTA (though obviously it wasn't just Neil taking that line in this case), it's possible the LTA were aware that Chris Kermode was likely to get the ATP job and feared the inevitable "new Chief Exec dumps LTA after a few weeks" headlines if they gave him the LTA job and then he was also offered the ATP post and decided to take that.

Far more importantly, the ATP and LTA top jobs have a very different emphasis to them - the ATP job is largely about big money events, big sponsors, communicating well with the very top players (partly keeping them happy but also retaining enough of their respect to be able to take on their vested interests and do things for the wider good of the men's game when necessary), growing the game globally and things like that, whereas the LTA job is (or should be) far more about the grass roots and likely requires quite different skills.

Running the WTF seems far more relevant to the ATP role than the LTA role, while running a national association (especially the way Tennis Canada was run) seems far more relevant to LTA role, which suggests that Kermode is probably far more suited to the ATP role and Downey to the LTA role than the other way around. Of course, it's possible that Kermode might have been the best man for the LTA job too, but his previous experience might well have led him to concentrate on similar areas to the ones Draper was good at - the very thing people like Neil have been arguing against for so long!

So there is surely a chance that both the ATP and the LTA have made good appointments this time ...

What Neil (and others who follow his lead) don't seem to understand is that it's not constructive to slag off tennis organisations or (British) players whatever they do. Of course it's fair enough to hold them to account and criticise the things they do get wrong, but it needs to be balanced with praise when they get the odd thing right too. In situations like this one, giving them at least some benefit of the doubt for now would seem a more sensible approach.

I don't know if this is a stupid question but I'm not sure I've seen it mentioned in the coverage but did Kermode want the LTA job?

There's been plenty of talk about him been tipped and suggested for it, how good a job he might have done and so forth. I guess I'm just wondering if he was actually interested.