I wrote this article last year and would be interested in feedback. I will also have to eat humble pie if Murray wins this year.
During this year’s Wimbledon, I kept asking myself two questions:
why did only one British male, Andy Murray, make a minor impact on the
tournament, and why were British women so dire? What has happened to
British tennis?
The
fact that it took the victory of British 14-year-old Laura Robson in
the Wimbledon girls singles competition to stir the passions of a
nation showed how low the expectations of the national tennis
establishment have sunk. The great John Newcombe’s explanation of what
is wrong with Australian tennis players rings true for British players,
too. He told the BBC: ‘When they are training they think they are
giving 100 per cent but they are only giving 60.’
I have been a tennis coach in the UK for 15 years now and I keep making
similar criticisms to Newcombe’s, but find myself constantly accused of
being ‘stuck in the past’ or of being ‘too motivated by winning’.
In my experience, there are three factors contributing to the
failure of British tennis players on the international scene. Firstly,
young tennis players in the UK are not as fit and not as determined or
single-minded as their southern and east European counterparts. Second,
the tennis bureaucracy in the UK is not able to tackle and overcome
particular, negative sentiments held by its predominantly middle-class
membership. Third, the competitive player base is shrinking.
The elite tennis players that I have helped and observed in training
are skilful and technically proficient. The problem is that they are
neither pushed nor encouraged to push themselves hard enough. They
rarely train to the point of exhaustion and an regrettable ‘stop when
you’re tired’ attitude is ubiquitous.
Spanish tennis offers an inspiring contrast. From the moment they
step on court, Spanish tennis players start to work hard. At the end of
gruelling physical sessions, Spanish players have to be stopped by
their coaches. Their attitude to failure is noticeably different, too:
they do not seem to be bothered by it. If they lose a point or are not
playing in the way they want to in a particular training session, they
will carry on regardless.
This attitude to the game could not be further from the British one.
As a professional coach, I ‘hit’ with high level junior players and one
of my biggest frustrations is how they tend to go on a downward spiral
of sulking if they are not playing perfectly; their ‘failure’
continually affects them instead of spurring them on to learn from
their mistakes and do better next time.
This attitude can be found in the coaching world as well. In the
past, if an elite player approached a coach we would assume they could
already play. The coach’s attitude would have been: ‘We can work on the
mental approach and your competitive side but you are expected to give
100 per cent.’ We would not have to put up with tantrums, mood swings
or the whole plethora of bad excuses that is now used to explain away
youthful inconsistency and poor performance.
Moreover,
the role for coaches has been expanded to include personal support for
issues which have nothing to do with tennis. As well as being physical
and technical coaches, we are now expected to act as psychotherapists,
social workers and motivational self-help gurus. This new coaching
approach is wholly endorsed by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).
Aside from running Wimbledon, a world-class tournament, one
fortnight a year, the LTA is a national joke. But, except for during
Wimbledon, the LTA is rarely in the spotlight and its monumental
failures are not subject to any significant media or public pressure.
In addition, the inevitable one-off wins for those British players
outside the world’s top 200 who are given ‘wild card’ entry stave off
criticism of generally woeful under performance. The LTA is still able
to wheel out the same tired excuses and reassurances that ‘things are
improving at a grass roots level’.
Instead of producing world-class elite tennis players, the LTA, as
other members of the new ‘sporting bureaucracy’ in the UK, like Sport
England, has imposed draconian restrictions on volunteers and coaches.
Under the guise of ‘professionalisation’, the LTA introduced licensing
schemes for all coaches as well as mandatory attendance on child
protection and health and safety courses. Alongside this, the LTA
deploys a rigid and secluded coaching structure. The LTA dislikes the
Spanish coaching system - and just about any other successful system in
the world. The LTA is the self-appointed governing body of tennis - and
everyone has to toe the line. Despite a woeful track record, it still
monopolises the training of elite players and will not let anyone else
in, except by their own appointment. Coaches’ licenses are withheld and
one simply cannot take part in training elite tennis players if one
does not adhere to everything the LTA dictates.
Paradoxically, the LTA should be all too well aware of the shrinking
competitive player base in the UK. In 1998, an audit of UK tennis was
conducted and steps were taken to improve participation, particularly
amongst children. In the 10 years since, the number of children
actively participating in tennis on a weekly basis has fallen from one
in eight to one in 20. Membership of tennis clubs in the UK has fallen
dramatically as has the competitive player base. Alongside sports such
as athletics, the number of competitive tennis players has dwindled to
the extent that the number of tournaments and competitions held has
been drastically reduced. Without the week-in-week-out competition of
leagues and tournaments, the critical mass of competitive players
falls. This statistical appraisal in the Independent newspaper
demonstrates the problem: ‘Now compare the number of clubs in Britain
(2,400, down from 5,000 a decade ago) with the number in France
(10,000). France has one million licensed adult players and 500,000
licensed juniors. Britain has around 100,000 licensed players in total
and the LTA says there are only a few thousand juniors regularly
playing competitive tennis (20 or more matches a year) at any level.’
(1)
That children and adults are now encouraged to play tennis as a
‘healthy activity’ has contributed to stemming the tide of adults
leaving the game. This trend has also been seen in the massive increase
in the number of those who now consider themselves to be ‘runners’.
Unfortunately, the increase in numbers of participants simply does not
equate to a rise in the level of elite performance. It is what one is
participating in that will raise the standard not just the ‘taking
part’.
That we cannot produce a championship winning British tennis player
is a loss because it fails to inspire and sets a limit on the ambitions
of young players. The therapeutic and holistic approach to coaching
will continue to inhibit the self-discipline intrinsic to excellence
and achievement. My advice to British tennis players is to ignore the
LTA, work very hard physically, be brilliant on court, and learn to
play in Spain.
