The state of British Tennis

Henman calls it an embarrassment: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/22100820

I agree:
+ We have the richest TA in the world courtesy of Wimbledon profits yet we have 1 player in top 200
+ Our top 200 player learnt his senior trade in Spain and had the women's national coach for a mother - if anything a more damning indictment of affairs
+ Nearly all our clubs are private - they're expensive, exclusive and focused around doubles club nights
+ Paucity of indoor facilities, meaning they're far to travel to for regular coaching and expensive to hire
+ Better coaches are around £30/hr - any decent junior needs 2hrs/week - that's £240/month to begin with - then they need more. Plus travel, kit, group sessions, tournaments, etc
+ Not enough juniors are supported by LTA through councils or performance centres, instead money is poured into the high level no-hopers
+ LTAs conversion rate of good juniors --> great juniors, and great juniors --> great seniors is woeful
+ LTA Talent ID programmes are a waste of time, do nothing to motivate the kids, more like auditing sessions of current status
+ In France and Spain, most clubs are council owned and coaching is provided for free as part of the council subsidy - look at their junior to senior conversion rates
+ LTA pours money into its own infrastructure and top players with little clarity on how that money is justified, spent and judged
+ The problem is not getting juniors into the game, I can tell you from experience there are 100s of kids in every county doing weekly tournaments, etc.
+ The problem is retaining them at the critical 9-11 year old phase when parents suddenly realise its going to cost them a small fortune to develop them seriously from 9 to 16 - 7 yrs of £400-500/mth
+ The best kids at 16-18 are not necessarily the best kids at 8-10, so Talent ID funding can be misplaced (its not large anyway), plus its not given to enough kids
+ Paucity of ex-slam, or near-slam coaches guiding out best juniors from 15-18
+ Not enough Futures/Challenger tournaments in UK, we have 50% as many as Spain does

Need I go on...when oh when is something radical going to happen to British Tennis?

Good article I'm not going to question any of it as I'm aware from other posts that you have made that you are really involved around this area.

One I suppose sad observation though. I was down in England a couple of weeks ago visiiting my in-laws. In the public park there is a tennis court, in good condition and free to play. The weather was cold but dry. However I never saw anyone playing on it all the time I was there. There were people playing basketball (one on one) on the court next to the tennis court, football on the grass outside the tennis court, and the ubiquitous crown green bowlers (more my age group nowadays). The local school also has courts on which people can play for a couple of pounds per hour outside schools times. Although I did not visit these this time when I used to play on them with my son a few years back ( to a very low standard) we were always the only ones there. So I suppose what I'm asking is that where these facilities are available at a reasonable cost (or free) why are people not using them.

Would disagree on one point

Clubs are not expensive!

£200 a year for our club 10 mins from Wimbledon. Free play all year round

Kids get free coaching

We struggle to get members because people are too lazy

Fair points, some clubs aren't too bad for fees (although its all more than football which is where many potential tennis players end up).
Its very rare that any coaching is given free in the UK unless its part of the fees they paid. Even then its probably group coaching to get them started but once they need to learn customised technique they'll have to start coughing up - otherwise how is the club pro coach getting paid?

I for one think (and I may be wrong) that talent ID is not the way forward. when looking for a decent tennis player. To me, its all about mass participation. I dont think Switzerland, for example, doesnt have an infinitely better talent ID, but they have produced Hingis, Federer and Wawrinka.
South Africa, has
absolutely no tID, but I think we do alright. A top 40 player, a few guys who have wondered in and out of the top 200, a top 100 woman.

Riskysports wrote:

We struggle to get members because people are too lazy

Or doing other things/sports other than playing tennis?

This country is a very successful sporting nation, it's tough to extend to all sports. Particularly one we really don't have the climate for.