Apparently John Lloyd criticised Murray for not doing enough to big-up the LTA. Perhaps that has something to do with the LTA having absolutely nothing to do with his rise to prominence - nor with Laura Robson, Kyle Edmunds, Joanne Konta, Heather Watson etc. etc. All relied on parents to fund their development. And today Murraty is saying that talking to the LTA is a waste of time, and that it's concerning that there are no juniors coming up. He also observed that when he went to the National Tennis Centre on Tues and Weds before the Davis Cup tie to get some hitting in, there were NO players using it - neither gym nor courts.
As long as UK LTA affiliated tennis clubs (there are exceptions of course, one being our local centre at Halton) allow adult members to throw juniors off court at will (even if those juniors are playing a competition round - yes it happens) then the LTA will remain a waste of space and we will languish at the bottom of the tennis league tables if not for the perseverance and sacrifice of competitive parents.
Rant over
I read that also
Murray said one of his main frustrations was a lack of players to practise with whenever he is in the UK.
After returning from the Shanghai Masters in October, Murray said he arrived at the National Training Centre in London to find no other players present.
"I was there on a Monday at about 3pm and then on Tuesday, at the same time," he said.
"There was not one person using any of the indoor courts and not one person in the gym. I took photos of it because the place cost like £40m and there are no people."
Unfortunately the Murray anomaly, and the Davis Cup win, may give the impression we are a good Tennis-playing nation when we really aren't.
Whenever I go abroad I see people playing tennis on public courts. I can honestly say I don't see anyone, at all, all year, using public courts around here... apart from Wimbledon fortnight, when everyone digs out the tennis bats, heads down the local Rec' and discovers they are full.
We have 2 men in the top 100 (#2 & #45) and 6 in the top 200.
France have 7 in the top 50.
Spain have 15 in the top 100
The big shock for me is Germany who also seem to have no depth in men's tennis right now. USA, given the participation levels I saw when I was living there, aren't doing so well in the men's rankings.
However British Tennis would simply fall off a cliff if Murray wasn't around, there's no depth, no up-and-coming star and, from what Murray says about the LTA facilities.. not much chance of it changing.
Have they not heard about Dave Brailsford?
Is the LTA one of those awful British "Empire era" societies? Too genteel, where trying to win is seen as "bad form old chap"?
LTA chief Downey said the coverage created by Britain's successful weekend in Belgium should help "encourage participation".