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Post Info TOPIC: Future of GB men's tennis


All-time great

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RE: Future of GB men's tennis


Hmm. I'd generally not assume that what we see is everything that happens ... or make assumptions about the logic behind people's decisions when they haven't shared it. So agreed that it's great to see Greg Rusedski taking a leading role re: Kyle Edmund. But in terms of what Tim Henman does, I suspect there's a lot more that he does in terms of giving back than what we necessarily see. (And I think he did, while still playing, have quite a supportive relationship with the young Andy Murray). More generally, I'd trust someone who showed considerable self awareness in his career to make sensible decisions about getting involved or not, as the case may be.

Would also have sympathy with Spud's view ... that after 24 years of bashing a tennis ball and with a young family to keep me occupied, I might want to give active involvement a miss for a while and go for some golf. Can think of at least one other prominent tennis player who did the same until called back into service ...

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Tennis legend

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One could also argue that Tim Henman single-handedly generated more revenue for the LTA for a decade or so than any other player (or indeed all the others put together).

This, of course, was also in his own interest but he has been very profitable for the LTA. And yes, they may have partially funded him but not when he was young - Tim was at a private tennis academy I believe - and the LTA funded many others too who gave zero back in terms of profits.

Also, just because he played well does not mean that he would necessarily make a good coach. Or admin officer. Or PR man. His skills outside of playing tennis may not match up at all with the LTA.

Many would argue that too many ex-tennis players end up back in the tennis system just because they can't think of anything else to do. And most of them are rather poor. Most top coaches were not top players. Or even particularly good players in some cases.

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County player

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It's a nonsense that Henman made money for the LTA and what's that got to do with it anyway? Money is the last thing required by arguably, the richest tennis federation in the world. Of course you can sit back on your riches while still young and play golf. Sampras and Agassi have done that too and see where that's got tennis in the U.S.A. They're scraping the barrel as we are. Everyone's now going to heap expectations on young Edmund whereas in a healthier system a young player of his standing wouldn't be so exceptional and the outgoing players would stay in the game at an active level, working one to one to bring along the next generation.

Of course you can always do the alternative - pay Brad Gilbert £700,000 a year plus exs and let Tim and Greg keep their feet up.

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Very true on the revenue side, CD. And I don't think he started to work with the LTA until he was about 17, so they hadn't put huge amounts in ...

And yes, you're absolutely right about matching of gifts and skills. That's part of what I meant by trusting his self awareness. He doesn't seem likely to be someone who needs to be involved in order to feed his own sense of self; nor does he seem someone who has no desire to give back. So trusting his judgement feels like a good option!



-- Edited by Spectator on Wednesday 23rd of April 2014 10:50:12 PM

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