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Editorial
Everyone will have an opinion on tennis this next fortnight with Wimbledon commencing and the influx of the tennis "tourist" who seems to only engage in tennis related activities during Wimbledon.
Let’s just get to the truth on the issue about why the UK is so poor on the international stage at producing tennis players, there is a very simple explanation. No one, no country will ever produce world class tennis players when children only pick up a racket during Wimbledon. The LTA can pour millions of pounds of money into the latest tennis craze, resurface a million tennis courts, but if we do not have children playing tennis in December and March, and all the year round, then all bets are off.
But many parents take their children to play tennis all the year and still we are failing to compete with France, Serbia, Russia and even countries like Bulgaria and Cyprus?
The root of the problem is that tennis is not in the "DNA" of this nation. There is not enough discipline from the parents to train their children from a young age, and simply take a basket of balls and hit with the child. Does Serbia spend more money that the UK on tennis? No. The parents and the coaches select a path and say to their children "you will be a tennis player".
Here if we do have any talent it seems the system does its best to prevent them from becoming great players. Indeed many parents the London Daily News contacted who take their children tennis are considering moving abroad to enable the tennis coaching to take on as one parent put it "a different course, one that will see my child break into the elite".
Tennis is a sport that needs continual efforts, determined children, confident players, tough parents, and effective coaching. Ultimately parents who are serious about tennis and want to see their children become truly "great players" will leave the UK, those who are of dual-nationality like many of the Greeks in London are being welcomed by the Greek and Cypriot Tennis Federations who are only too happy to welcome motivated and talented tennis players.
It still remains the dream of many tennis parents in London to see their child lift the Wimbledon trophy, increasingly this is an elusive goal, with obstacles presented at each step for young stars in this country.
photo credit: Eleni Kaponi
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