The 'Depth' of British Men's Tennis

Drew · May 27, 2006

The 'Depth' of British Men's Tennis

Salmon · Tennis legend

RE: The 'Depth' of British Mens Tennis

Vandenburg · Futures level

This thread now over 10 years old, but could be from today.

Do not let recent exploits fool us, the depth in the UK is still shameful.

JonH · All-time great

Drew wrote:
Whilst looking through the qualifying draw for RG I could not help but notice what countries have a large participation in the event...apart from the French wildcards.....heres the top nations.....

RG Main and Qualifying draws. (Selected countries)

France - 33 players (includes French WC's)
Spain - 21 players
Argentina - 17 players
Germany - 17 players
USA - 18 players
CZE Republic - 13 players
Italy - 13 players
Russia - 7 players
Australia - 6 players
Serbia and Montenegro - 6 players
Croatia - 6 players
Brazil - 6 players
Sweden - 5 players

GBR - 5 players

This thread is not about RG so thats why it is here. It is about our current lack in depth.

This gets shown up time and time again.....Davis Cup in Glasgow for one in the recent memory.

Rodger Draper has his work cut out to improve the LTA so that the organisation can contribute to the talent pool. Those who managed to qualify for RG are ranked much higher than the likes of Boggo....I know on another day he would have taken that last set 6-3 but he didnt !

So please will the likes of Alex Bogdanovic, Jame Baker, Colin Fleming, Andrew Kennaugh please stand-up !

If not then are we to look to the likes of Graeme Dyce, Dan Cox, Dan Evans, Chris Eaton etc for the future top 100 players ?????

This is not a new issue but British Tennis needs to keeping pushing and pushing and not become stagnated....hopefully Mr Draper wont let that happen.

One right then!

Oakland2002 · All-time great

The 'Depth' of British Men's Tennis

indiana · Tennis legend

The 'Depth' of British Mens Tennis

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

I think in Andys defeat today it will give us an indication of how much we will miss him when he goes in 3 or 4 years time. I can't really see a Grand Slam winner or even contender in the next 5-10 with the current crop, Kyle is the only outside chance. This discussion will certainly arise again when Andy does retire. Politics will creep in again. Brexit and social policy and culture etc to be added to the discussion no doubt.

Vandenburg · Futures level

RE: The 'Depth' of British Men's Tennis

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Andy will barring injury be around for some time, we have a couple of decent prospects at 16 who both seem self motivated difficult to predict re how academic commitments will impact but if they both have good years in juniors this year and start transition next things maybe looking rosier.

In a couple of years time we may have Andy, Evo at his peak, Kyle approaching 24 hopefully going deep into slams, Cam hopefully main draw perhaps one of or all of Brydan, Lloyd, and Liam there or there abouts maybe Jay and maybe a couple of youngsters trying to be top 200 before they are 20. It is what it is, a quality player every 4-5 years or so but in my lifetime that is as deep as I have ever seen it.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

And what is going on with Norwegian tennis ??? Casper Rudd and the no1 seed in Les Petit As, the Tippeligaen will be bereft of athletes!

indiana · Tennis legend

Oakland2002 wrote:
Andy will barring injury be around for some time, we have a couple of decent prospects at 16 who both seem self motivated difficult to predict re how academic commitments will impact but if they both have good years in juniors this year and start transition next things maybe looking rosier.

In a couple of years time we may have Andy, Evo at his peak, Kyle approaching 24 hopefully going deep into slams, Cam hopefully main draw perhaps one of or all of Brydan, Lloyd, and Liam there or there abouts maybe Jay and maybe a couple of youngsters trying to be top 200 before they are 20. It is what it is, a quality player every 4-5 years or so but in my lifetime that is as deep as I have ever seen it.

Indeed, and in line with much of that and these players' general progress to date very probably no cohort of potential top 100 players from Cam, Liam, Brydan and Lloyd, with Cam currently looking the most likely. Where or whereabouts they will generally settle time will tell.

Those possible couple of youngsters trying to be top 200 before they are top 20, beyond Jay, and that's still a road for him ( but at least he seems to maybe be on it ), any names ?

-- Edited by indiana on Sunday 22nd of January 2017 10:02:33 PM

Vandenburg · Futures level

Oakland2002 wrote:
And what is going on with Norwegian tennis ??? Casper Rudd and the no1 seed in Les Petit As, the Tippeligaen will be bereft of athletes!

Norwegian tennis has always been poor, a top 100 player every 20 years or so. Casper Rudd, I think will be top 50, but apart from that time will tell.

However UK may look gloomy, the desperate state of Swedish tennis is rather alarming.

Vandenburg · Futures level

indiana wrote:
Oakland2002 wrote:
Andy will barring injury be around for some time, we have a couple of decent prospects at 16 who both seem self motivated difficult to predict re how academic commitments will impact but if they both have good years in juniors this year and start transition next things maybe looking rosier.

In a couple of years time we may have Andy, Evo at his peak, Kyle approaching 24 hopefully going deep into slams, Cam hopefully main draw perhaps one of or all of Brydan, Lloyd, and Liam there or there abouts maybe Jay and maybe a couple of youngsters trying to be top 200 before they are 20. It is what it is, a quality player every 4-5 years or so but in my lifetime that is as deep as I have ever seen it.

Indeed, and in line with much of that and these players' general progress to date very probably no cohort of potential top 100 players from Cam, Liam, Brydan and Lloyd, with Cam currently looking the most likely. Where or whereabouts they will generally settle time will tell.
Those possible couple of youngsters trying to be top 200 before they are top 20, beyond Jay, and that's still a road for him ( but at least he seems to maybe be on it ), any names ?

-- Edited by indiana on Sunday 22nd of January 2017 10:02:33 PM

Yeh clutching at straws, only hope is that the average age of the top 100 and thus the average to break the top 100 is getting older and older.

What happened to Liam? He must have had something about him to get to 150 at such a young age?

Oakland2002 · All-time great

We have two in the top 10, 2001 year by age, Jack (almost 2002) at 1 and Anton at 7 who hasn't played much recently at U18 level, there are many variables still in play, particularly how serious a commitment they make to education.

Both are in a good place to be very highly ranked as juniors by the year end 2019 although my hope is their junior ranks will have been dipping for 9 months or so as their focus will shift to futures before they turn 18. That said I would not be surprised to see at least one follow the college route through their own volition much in the way Cam has.

To paint an alternative view OG was also good enough to be a top 100 player but professional tennis not stimulating enough to retain his attention, if he were still in play that would also make the depth chart look a bit healthier. I don't see British tennis being in anyway responsible for OG not transitioning.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Oli G dropping tennis was directly linked to the LTA's actions. I'm not saying the LTA were wrong, as such, but it's how it happened.

Oli was doing fine (enough), part of the NTC group, and the chosen few, and all looked hunky dory (in general).
But in a short space of time, various things happened, including:
the NTC closed as a training hub for the top players (which was more of a major blow to Oli than others because he lives so close);
the LTA wanted him to skip Wimbledon and go to the States (with Liam etc). Oli refused and the LTA got the hump;
Oli went on a tour to Kazakhstan etc. with no coach/trainer (coz the LTA weren;t playing ball any more) and had a pretty miserable time;
Oli quit.

Given his age (both actual and the fact he was a rather 'immature' bloke, which is not meant as a criticism) and his potential and the amount the LTA had invested in him already, I think the LTA most certainly could have handled things a LOT better: it's their job.