Time to start afresh
Posted on 26/03/2010The fallout from Britain's Davis Cup defeat to Lithuania rolls on, and Neil Harman in the The Times believes that the only way to kick-start British tennis is to start completely afresh.
The integral parts of the British game were scattered far and wide this week as Roger Draper attempted to explain to MPs why — after Davis Cup humiliation in Lithuania — the LTA is still worth £27 million of taxpayers’ cash.As the LTA chief executive gave his account in Westminster to the All-Party Parliamentary Tennis Group, the main bloc of male players were in Jersey, where they were almost outnumbered by the seven coaches deemed necessary for the ATP Tour Challenger event.
Farther west in Florida, Andy Murray was the lone British male in the draw for the Sony Ericsson Open, where he was joined by three female players, including Heather Watson, 17, who was granted a wild card. And way out west on a golf course in California the brothers Lloyd dwelt on the events that led John to quit as Davis Cup captain.
Big brother David ought to have been in charge of the sport in Britain long ago — he still should and is as motivated as ever to do the job. John resigned having secured a £150,000-plus payoff and so became the latest LTA employee to be hastened from his post.
As the under-fire Draper tosses out more playing figures and targets, he now says he is bowing to player (ie, Murray) power and promoting to Davis Cup captaincy someone with no experience at that level.That decision was made after sounding out Greg Rusedski before the Lithuania tie only to discover — thanks to Murray’s initiative — he would be a terribly unpopular choice. There is much talk that Draper is in danger of losing the support of the people who appointed him and he does cut an isolated figure, having just asked an employee who earns half his salary to report to him as to where the whole thing has gone wrong.
He does not need to look beyond a few simple facts for the answer. In 2006, when the present regime took control, there were two British players in the top 100 in singles, Murray and Tim Henman. Now there are two, Murray and Elena Baltacha. The average world ranking of the top ten British male players in 2006 was 194; today it is 311. The average of the top 20 male players four years ago was 372, today it is 467. How much was spent importing Steve Martens, Brad Gilbert, Paul Annacone, Carl Maes, Julien Hoferlin and Louis Cayer to preside over this failure? £5 million? £10 million?
The politicians can do British tennis a profound good when they publish their report on the state of the game, hopefully before the general election. They can make plain that the sport is not working and tell those who have failed it that they must leave. Draper said two weeks ago that ripping up and starting again would be a travesty. To my mind, it is the only way.
The return of Sir Clive
Meanwhile, in The
The time has come for a shake-up at the top of English rugby to help the national team challenge the best in the world again and I would strongly support Sir Clive Woodward's return in the role currently filled by Rob Andrew.In 2006, Clive wanted the director of elite rugby job but didn't get it and, from what I have heard and read recently, he still wants it. He still follows the game closely while working for the British Olympic Association and, like every other England fan, he is unhappy with how things are going.
I want to see England winning regularly and being strong contenders at every World Cup, so it is time to get the best people in the top positions. Let's have Woodward as performance director and Johnno as manager. Then why not try to recruit Shaun Edwards or Will Greenwood to work with the backs, or Jim Mallinder and Dorian West, who are working wonders at Northampton?
There has to be a role for Johnno. But he has to be given full control over the coaching staff and I'm not sure he has that at the moment. His loyalty to the current coaches is admirable but it would be good to see him make some bold calls and really try to bring in the best in the world.
I think he could co-operate well with Clive, as he did when captaining England. They got on well in a working environment, they understood their job descriptions and respected each other immensely. There is no reason why that partnership can't work again.