More Retirements ?

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

More Retirements ?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Oh, shoot. Not that I blame them . . . but, yes, it sounds like it for Jack and Ash.

Oli makes some very good points (although I thought the NTC was still open, on a pay-per-hour basis, to those who wanted it - is it actually shut ? Or does Oli mean he didn't want to pay the fee or, just on his own, now the others have moved, there's no one to play with ?)

However, with some work on offer at his mother's coaching set-up, he is in an ideal position to come back in a year or two and really make an impact.

Others don't quite have the same set-up, or indeed talent, so it'll be a lot harder . . . it's all a bit of a mess really . . .

paulisi · Tennis legend

Ash - I'm not surprised at. He seems to be struggling to play regularly on tour(probably financially) and is based at Bolton where there are a lack of other tour players

Jack C - is at a career high. I know he has had injury problems, but he may also have training access. He was at Sutton. That would be a surprise. Is Sutton still accepting pro players? I heard Jathan Malik had left there, but no idea if he was planning to play on tour or not.

We have also lost George C as well this year and I wouldn't be surprised if Evo gives up the ghost if he has a bad start to the year.

I'll need to change my predictions......

-- Edited by paulisi on Wednesday 17th of December 2014 03:04:21 PM

Jaffa · Challenger level

NTC is open, pay by the hour... Lots of juniors use it though, seems to be an emphasis on getting them there!

indiana · Tennis legend

Not saying whether or how much more these players deserved assistance, but this apparent LTA even more extremely focused concentration on a few, particularly young, possible top 100 players I could envisage leading to early retirements for other higher ranked GB players ( and Ashley had for a time got into the top 400 ).

In the worst event any relative strength in depth at various levels of top 500 players could be decimated as it pretty well was once before not too many years ago.

A very dangerous path, but do the LTA see it as such ? Is the highly focussed search and big support for possible top 100 players as against more support for others worth it ? Is it in the best interests of the future of British tennis even if, as doesn't look likely for a time, more of the level of Kyle and Liam come through ?

Oli may come across as rather unthinking and tactless in some things he comes out with at times and maybe too entitled, but Houston, we may have a problem ...

All the best to Ashley and Jack for the future.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

I guess you could sum up my feelings best by saying, the LTA should stop trying to produce another Andy Murray and start trying to produce another 20 James Wards. If they get that right, then the new Andy Murray will come along anyway.

PockyTastic · Futures level

Bob in Spain wrote:
I guess you could sum up my feelings best by saying, the LTA should stop trying to produce another Andy Murray and start trying to produce another 20 James Wards. If they get that right, then the new Andy Murray will come along anyway.

How I feel in a nutshell.

indiana · Tennis legend

Well said, Bob. Shorter and more succinct.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Bob in Spain wrote:
I guess you could sum up my feelings best by saying, the LTA should stop trying to produce another Andy Murray and start trying to produce another 20 James Wards. If they get that right, then the new Andy Murray will come along anyway.

Abso-blinkin-lutely.

And not least because we've HAD one And Murray for a good few years now. And one Tim Henman (close to Andy) for a good time before that. And so we KNOW that that doesn't work, for British tennis a s whole.

Would be great to see what effects 20 James Wards had . . .

steven · Tennis legend

PockyTastic wrote:
Bob in Spain wrote:
I guess you could sum up my feelings best by saying, the LTA should stop trying to produce another Andy Murray and start trying to produce another 20 James Wards. If they get that right, then the new Andy Murray will come along anyway.
How I feel in a nutshell.

Me too.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Jack hasn't been full time for quite a while, crying shame about Ash, and I do agree massively that we can't afford to lose players in the top 150- 500 range.

paulisi · Tennis legend

I think the attitude that comes across from Oli in that interview is what the LTA are trying to stamp out.

It just comes across as I want an easy life and with as much help as possible. It's just the wrong attitude if his plan is to be a top class player, he may need to make sacrifices and move away from home to train and find the right base.

I agree with his comments regarding the way players have been coached away from their natural game though.

In general I'm in agreement that we need to try and find lots of top 100 players and some of these will push on and become top players.

sherbert · Lower Club Player

I know when Neil was a junior, there was a select number of players who seemed to get all the money pumped in to them. (Neil wasn't one of them) and now a lot of those players gave up tennis years ago. Like you say - 20 James Wards would be much better than one Andy.

I also think another big issue is the fact that if a player hasn't made it by 21 - they seem to be given up on.

I can't speak for all the players, but I know the decent ones don't necessarily want to be helped for everything - they just want to be able to play tennis without it all having to be about money.

EddietheEagle · County player

I think Golding's most acute remarks concerned court surfaces. The almost obsessive reliance placed on tarmac or artificial grass in this country - on which, as Oli correctly points out, not a single professional tournament worldwide is played - speaks much for the lack of joined-up thinking that, sadly, characterises our national game. Some local authorities seem to think it's ok to charge a small ransom for playing on tarmac with netball and football lines plastered across them. Private clubs have this perverse love nowadays for artificial grass as though somehow it's the bees knees, whereas as Oli points out, it's next to impossible to actually play properly on it. Hard courts are in the main, restricted to well-run commercial gyms but the monthly charges and obstructive contractual clauses can put off many a prospective player. If you're that driven you will of course find a way through but, boy, have we made it hard for ourselves. In my view, he makes a very well-observed comment.

baxi2 · Lower Club Player

Bob in Spain wrote:
I guess you could sum up my feelings best by saying, the LTA should stop trying to produce another Andy Murray and start trying to produce another 20 James Wards. If they get that right, then the new Andy Murray will come along anyway.

Yes, but remember the LTA are incapable of producing any success so the above could be problematic either way !