Who is he?

Was Leon Smith not considered?

Now if you were to appoint someone with no tennis background, Dave Brailsford would interest me. Get him going with his sum of marginal gains.

What Mr Keen brings ? - well initially some waffle about culture etc ( not saying that there haven't been issues with LTA culture ! )

-- Edited by indiana on Friday 25th of September 2015 01:10:57 PM

Peter Keen


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Peter has played a vital role in British sport and its global development. Most notably he played a major role in the 2012 London Olympics as Performance Director at UK Sport, where he is credited as responsible for developing and implementing the strategic funding and performance management system, known as Mission 2012.

Previous career roles have included lecturing in the higher education sector, and as Performance Director for British Cycling, where he is credited as the driving force behind the success of British Cycling and its increased global profile between 1997 and 2003.

Peter was awarded the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services to sport in 2012, and remains at UK Sport as a Special Advisor for Performance, whilst continuing his career as Director of Sport at Loughborough University

Otto wrote:

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Views please.

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Looking at his background and the role he played in initiating the British cycling revolution, you'd want a bloke like that at the top of the tree, not answering to a sheepdog.

I wouldn't know much about the man. I suspect if he's any good though he'll get stabbed in the back by a committee of blazers before too long. A couple of years ago he was claiming to be 'burned out' so whether or not he still has it in him to upset a few applecarts is anybody's guess. 

This 'interim' stuff is what troubles me. It was pretty much the same with Bob Brett. He was only ever part time as he had his own academy to run. Then of course the marketing genius himself said he was taking the job on - for a bit. It's all been interim or part-time. The LTA need to recognise that their most important people are those who are 100% engaged and committed to the growth of tennis in Britain. Those people exist and they don't need superstar salaries either.   

I don't think his skill set makes much difference when you consider all the various factors outside his control - that contribute collectively to and influence, his particular remit, namely elite athlete development and high performance. There are huge weaknesses in other areas of tennis including particularly (but not exclusively), such things as driving up mass participation levels and improving tennis facilities right across the country.

If people aren't motivated to get off their arses and play, where is Mr Keen going to get his athletes from? That requires constant work with more and better coaches in schools, local authority areas and community-based tennis - not just clubs - engaging people with tennis in different ways that suit them, from hitting for fun to serious competition. That cannot fall within a performance director's immediate responsibility. Then on infrastructure; the sport requires a continually evolving national plan to upgrade facilities and move tennis into the modern age. You cannot do that without the active assistance of national and local government as well as private business sponsorship. That requires a massive game plan in itself. We don't have one. You cannot expect punters to get excited about tennis if they have to hit balls on pock-marked courts with surfaces like sandpaper. This is the 21st century where there are lots of other pleasant things you can do with your leisure time. Judging from the hit and miss nature of its 'find a court' scheme, I doubt the LTA even know exactly how many courts there are in the country and what condition they are in. We need upgraded tennis facilities all around the land where the sport can be showcased in major centres with courts built to ITF standards and offering facilities that engage the community at large as well as training coaches and performance players. Other, lower level facilities like local clubs and L.A. courts need to follow and improve in line accordingly too. I would add that clay courts have to be included in that overall mix, given their importance internationally and to learning technique and where we never seem to have a plan at all.

None of this is likely to happen when you still have a vastly overcrowded board of directors (fifteen, is it still? a nonsense basically) composed, exceptions apart, of dullards led by a here-today-gone-tomorrow marketing man. A board of that size for a medium sized business is ridiculous in this day and age. I very much doubt it meets the accepted standard of modern corporate governance. Just as poor, if not worse, this extended committee overlaps and 'consults' with an overarching council of busybodies, sorry, 'members', still essentially rooted to its earlier Edwardian composition and values.

In short, I'd say Peter Keen has his work cut out.

Just following on, one the points raised was the lack of juniors(boys) coming through for direct entry to junior slams. However he was looking historically and will find that Jay Clarke and possibly Ewan Moore will make Australia.
In addition to this a lot of the juniors are stepping up to seniors earlier, which seems to be beneficial.

NB The sentence:

"One of Downeys proteges surprised colleagues when he mistook Aljaz Bedene the Slovenian who now plays under the British flag for a technical term, like a triple Salchow or a Yurchenko vault."

just cracks you up, if you don't cry first.

How could anybody at the top of GB tennis not know the name of the country's number two player ???????