UK Tennis

I have just read a very interesting article on the BBC website about the current funding plans for UK tennis.  As an avid tennis fan I have waited a long time to see some real UK talent coming through and at the moment I am pleased with the current crop of tennis stars i.e. Andy Murray, Heather Watson and Laura Robson.

Anyone who follows tennis knows  that it does take time to get a tennis super star. Five years ago the UK was in a tennis abyss and now five years down the line we have finally got a tennis champion in Andy Murray.

Yes I do understand that neither Andy nor Heather learnt their game in the UK but I believe that this is more of a damming indictment of the training facilities in the UK.  Even if a child is talented the cost plus the bureaucracy that parent has to go through is probably no joke.

However I do believe that the UK is heading in the right direction and what I have noted from following the careers of Steffi Graf, Venus and Serena Williams is that you have to give the child a racket from the age of 3-4 onwards and in this country that is practically unheard of so I guess we need to realise where not harming child by wanting to develop them when they are young.   So by the time they reach 21 they are on the verge of winning grand slams.