THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON -- As the quintessentially English tournament of Wimbledon prepares to open, the calm and tranquil atmosphere has already been shattered by the autobiography of Britain's top player. Andy Murray, ranked no. 11 in the world, has delivered a withering attack on the state of British tennis on the eve of the grass-court Grand Slam, which hasn't seen a homegrown male player win since Fred Perry in 1936. For Murray, seeded 12th at this year's Wimbledon starting Monday, British players are lazy, the coaches negative and the governing body unrealistic -- and no one is "brutally honest" about it either. "There is something wrong with the mentality and work ethic of most of the British players," the 21-year-old Scot writes in "Hitting Back," published last week. "I think the best way is to confront it, especially when it has been so bad for so long." There are some players who work hard, he says, but in general they need to "train harder and get in the gym more." Sometimes when he goes to the multi-million-pound headquarters of British tennis in Roehampton near Wimbledon to train, "it's like a ghost town," Murray writes. "I just don't get why nobody is going to the gym at weekends, or doing a recovery job." He says the national governing body of tennis, the Lawn Tennis Association, has tried to improve things by employing coaches who have helped the likes of Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Pete Sampras, but "these world-class coaches have gone from working with world-class players to teaching someone how to play tennis." Being the only British male singles player in the Top 100, Murray, who spent part of his teens training in Spain, has carried the weight of a nation's expectations on his shoulders since former no. 4-ranked Tim Henman retired in September. This year, only two British men have been awarded wildcards into the main draw -- No. 260 Jamie Baker and No. 271 Alex Bogdanovic -- the lowest number since wildcards began in 1977. They were eligible because their rankings were at or above this year's limit of 250, but have since slipped. Britain's top-ranked women's player, Anne Keothavong, qualified for Wimbledon on merit after becoming the first British woman to enter the top 100 in a decade. She is currently ranked at 93. It is not as if Britain doesn't spend any money on its players. Profit from Wimbledon goes to the LTA for the development of the sport. Since 1995, it has received over 25 million pounds (US$50 million) a year, according to figures in the Wimbledon Compendium. "Money does not buy success despite what Abramovich has done at Chelsea," said John Roberts, editor of Tennis Life UK magazine, referring to Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich. "The millions have to be within the young players themselves in terms of their ambition and determination." The LTA, which refused to comment on Murray's autobiography, says it aims to have three singles players and four doubles players in the top 100 by September. It published a "Blueprint for British Tennis" in October 2006 which mapped out "fundamental changes" for developing the sport. These included putting in place a network of talent scouts to spot players at an early age, putting men's and women's tennis on an equal footing and introducing a professional high performance coaching regime for the top players. Roberts said the LTA was trying hard, but Murray had said what many in tennis thought -- that "if the players don't want to work as hard as they need to get to the top, it's definitely a waste of everybody's time." British tennis virtually stood still in the decade following the start of the Open era in 1968, Roberts added. Since then, British tennis has been playing catch-up. Murray himself has been heralded as a potential Wimbledon winner -- and not just by an optimistic British media. Five-time champion Bjorn Borg said Murray could one day succeed as long as he stays fit. "I don't think he's going to win Wimbledon this year, but I think definitely in future Andy can win that tournament," the Swede told Britain's BBC Radio Five. And No. 3-ranked Novak Djokovic said Murray's "time is yet to come." "In a way I feel sorry for him," Djokovic said Wednesday. "It is part of his life, he has been brought up in a country where tennis has a great tradition and they are desperately waiting for a Wimbledon champion. All eyes are on him."
No comments:
Post a Comment