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.
