Are you worried about the future of British mens tennis?

Vandenburg · Futures level

Are you worried about the future of British mens tennis?

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Vandy is back! And some clickbait!

Well, at one level the individual observations are right and the only one Im personally more positive about in the list is Jack, who I think will be fine and reach the top - although it is more in hope than evidence in terms of fitness.

But the level lower - Arthur Fery, Henry Searle, the college players like JoMo, Jack PJ etc etc and maybe even Paul Jubb still, fill me with hope that we have a couple or three new top 100 players to join Jack D in a couple of years. It feels like this season and next all hopes could be on Jack, but Im looking at 2026 and feeling a little more positive than your narrative, Vandy.

Nix · Futures level

JonH comes home wrote:
Vandy is back! And some clickbait!

Well, at one level the individual observations are right and the only one Im personally more positive about in the list is Jack, who I think will be fine and reach the top - although it is more in hope than evidence in terms of fitness.

But the level lower - Arthur Fery, Henry Searle, the college players like JoMo, Jack PJ etc etc and maybe even Paul Jubb still, fill me with hope that we have a couple or three new top 100 players to join Jack D in a couple of years. It feels like this season and next all hopes could be on Jack, but Im looking at 2026 and feeling a little more positive than your narrative, Vandy.

Yes and behind them we have other promising young players like Oliver Bonding who has been as high as JWR 12 and Mark Ceban who has been in the top 300 juniors at the young age of only 15 and steadily climbing the ranks. Mark also won the Petits As which has had previously finalists like Rafa and Andy. It's no guarantee of success obviously but it shows there are young players coming through.

As for Jack I think all these injuries have affected him in that he just seems to be slightly holding back compared to even a year ago where he seemed to be playing more aggressively. Of course it could be that his team are working on his fitness so he peaks during the grass and US Open seasons which would tend to make sense as it certainly fits his game more than the clay. It would be a big disappointment for him to miss out on the grass season again like last year.

pauliscot · Social player

are there questions around Jack's fitness currently? I understood he was in full fitness but there were issues with his game, and serve, in transition following some recent changes?

Mervatron2 · Challenger qualifying

No!

Andy and Dan are done yes.

Cam is going back to the level I think hes capable of 20-50 ranking range and Jack D is just getting started.

As many have said there are quite a few decent prospects coming through too.

I think in the short term the womens game is going to be the more exciting for the brits but it will swing back to the guys.

thegingerlightbulb · Intermediate Club Player

I agree with all the responses to Vanderberg. However, the one thing I don't think we have is a potential grand slam winner. To be fair, such a player is extremely rare to find, but I think Draper may make one or two semi finals at a slam, but I don't see him being a serious rival of Sinner or Alcatraz. Searle might get there but right now it is impossible to tell.

Var · Pro player

Mervatron2 wrote:
No!

Andy and Dan are done yes.

Cam is going back to the level I think hes capable of 20-50 ranking range and Jack D is just getting started.

As many have said there are quite a few decent prospects coming through too.

I think in the short term the womens game is going to be the more exciting for the brits but it will swing back to the guys.

I agree that the womens game could well eclipse the mens, given our up and coming stars . However I dont see another Andy on the horizon yet. There are definitely a few junior boys who could come through 14 plus. So difficult to call in the mens game. I think Henry S might be one to watch though.

indiana · Tennis legend

I am a bit concerned about how many top men's players we will have in the future. I think the short term and rather longer term both look more like our women coming through. I'm not sure about a swing back again, especially with the sort of ages some are now looking to

The depth is not too bad at all in historical conparisons wirh, as these who follow such things will know, us currently having both 10 in the tip 250 and 20 in the top 500.

But while we follow players further down the rankings to various degrees, I am sure the majority of us very much want to see GB players close to the summit of the game. And that could very well be an issue with our men for some time at least.

-- Edited by indiana on Wednesday 29th of May 2024 02:06:38 PM

Oscariyan · Strong Club Player

I'm worried about the now but the future still looks good - and as mentioned Draper who is on the right track and Bonding, Searle could join him. Looking further ahead Ceban is 4th ranked for his age but that could improve. Then some other really bright prospects in Lorimer, Pickerd-Barua and Watson who are near the top of Tennis Europe rankings. While its fairly bleak at the moment I don't think it will last and I'm sure the LTA are aware of this and are hopefully trying to improve the chances of success including providing the right foundations for another serial grand slam winner! Maybe I'm being ultra optimistic but along with the really promising girls and Raducanu we could have a lot of brits to follow in a couple years :)

Blue_Belle · Club Coach

Andy is special and we all know it.

Focus is all on the singles but what about doubles? Also some signs of the partnerships not working out or just levelling out again.

Vandy's post mentions our top men - but why is Kyle there at all? Kyle can barely play these days it seems. Next men in the rankings are Broady, Peniston, Choinski etc.

9vicman · Satellite level

I think we have to have a little perspective here. For a long time Britain struggled to produce Top 100 players let alone tour-level winners or Grand Slam semifinalists (or better). For sure Kyle Edmund had a career-ending injury, Dan Evans is approaching the end of his career, and Cam Norrie has had a bit of a blip, but that does not mean that they didn't enjoy success.

What's most important is that we continue to produce Top 100 players, which will increase the chances of success at higher levels. In recent years Boulter, Dart, Burrage, Raducanu, Evans Broady and Draper have all broken through, and there is certainly some hope among the current group of juniors.

It feels like girls/women might have greater depth than the boys/men at the moment, but in the meantime there's no reason that Draper, Norrie, Boulter and Raducanu can't achieve success in bigger events.

And then there's doubles. I think in the eyes of the media and many fans, doubles success does not compensate for a lack of singles success, but there's no doubt our men have performed well in that discipline. And three are on the younger side - Cash, Patten, Glasspool - so no reason they can't continue to be successful.

Ultimately Grand Slam singles champions tend to be born rather than made. What we can hope/expect the LTA to do is to continue to produce enough players competing at higher levels to increase the chances of someone breaking through.

Lambda · Challenger level

We have 5 of the top 11 US College men in the season just finished - more than any other nation - with 3 or 4 of them having now finished at college and going pro. Although they may not all break through on the ATP tour, there should be hope that at least a couple of them will develop their games further to be top 100 in the next couple of years.

9vicman · Satellite level

Lambda wrote:
We have 5 of the top 11 US College men in the season just finished - more than any other nation - with 3 or 4 of them having now finished at college and going pro. Although they may not all break through on the ATP tour, there should be hope that at least a couple of them will develop their games further to be top 100 in the next couple of years.

A good point. And not forgetting Arthur Fery who is a recent graduate. Or maybe he left early.

Vandenburg · Futures level

Blue_Belle wrote:
Andy is special and we all know it.

Focus is all on the singles but what about doubles? Also some signs of the partnerships not working out or just levelling out again.

Vandy's post mentions our top men - but why is Kyle there at all? Kyle can barely play these days it seems. Next men in the rankings are Broady, Peniston, Choinski etc.

Because it was more about what could have been, Kyle was a top 20 player. Broady Peniston and Choinski are only ever going to be steady eddy challenger players, nothing wrong with that, but we should not aspire to have it.

As Evo once said, how can a country as poor as Argentina with no federation have 20 players in the top 200........

pauldepstein · Social player

This thread assumes that the key measurement of British tennis is how many UK players are right at the top of the game (top 10 or close to it). However, there are other questions which (to me)
are just as relevant. For example, how many UK players are in the ATP top 1000? How much spectator interest is there in the UK compared to other countries? I think that, in terms of spectator interest, the UK is
near the top. Certainly, the US is not nearly as excited about the US Open as the UK is about Wimbledon. Perhaps more important than all these. For players who peak at around ATP 700 (for example), and therefore can't live off prize money or endorsements, how much opportunity is there for a tennis-based career? Presumably most of these opportunities are in coaching. I don't know the answer to this question but it's extremely relevant and should be discussed more.

-- Edited by pauldepstein on Sunday 16th of June 2024 08:49:42 AM