This from today's Evening Standard.  I quote:   " The LTA are scrapping the "centre of excellence" they built at a cost of £40M.  One of the reasons given for this ridiculous U-turn is that young players based there developed a "culture of partying and fast livingand an overdeveloped sense of entitlement" That one depressing paragrapg tells us a great deal about tennis in this country."

 My opinion is that it should not have been built in the first place, it is far too "london centric".  Scotland deserved some sensible money for all it achieved with so little.  A training base in Spain and an association with Spanish youngsters and training regime  would have better use of money.  It is a U-turn, yes.  The closure is embarrassing for the LTA.  However I respect their decision and feel it is probably the correct one.  There is no point in throwing good money after bad.

I'm sure this announcement will cause an avalanche of posts and general discussion.

Steve

Yes........

The only thing I can say in my defence is that because I read about this in a newspaper, I thought it would be new....

That's interesting, mainly because one of the common complaints of the LTA system is that funding is pulled from 18 for kids who have, until that point, had everything on a plate. The issue there is not funding older players, it's funding too many juniors too highly, and then when they don't break through quickly, they are chucked out the set-up and don't even know how to register for a tournament or book a practice court because that used to all be done for them. Then they plod around for a couple of years losing in 10ks, get stuck around 700, and quit.

So actually, in the UK, funding generally stops at 18 too (at the latest), unless you break through or the LTA have enough belief that you will.

It was only by the Draper regime changing the approach to continue funding more seniors that the likes of Anne, Bally, Katie were able to achieve what they did in the end. And "funding" doesn't have to mean just money of course.

The important point Andy made back in 2011 is not the one about funding - it's about coaching philosophy and the constant need to change when things don't work immediately. Something that always happens in British tennis because of the media outcry every Wimbledon. The closure of the NTC rather than trying to work with it to change it into a positive is, arguably, another example of that.

There's no point in the LTA ever making a 5 year plan, because after 2 years they will fold to negative press and event a new one. It's incredibly detrimental to players who are the victims of constantly changing systems and approaches. Often the players don't know where the stand, coaching set-ups are changed, they are moved from squads to individual to different squads to individual with a different coach as programmes as introduced, changed, cancelled, re-invented, changed again etc...

Let's hope that this 'era' is the start of some consolidation and stability if nothing else.