More Retirements ?

paulisi · Tennis legend

RE: More Retirements ?

CourtCrazy · Social player

Cutting funding for players who Bob Brett and Michael Downey don't rate is one thing, but the unforgivable thing they have done is cutting down British Tour prize money. If you don't want to 'give' the players money then at least allow them the opportunity to win it and then spend it back on their tennis. This is not 'tough love', it is simply throwing a lot of players on the scrap heap.

In France, Germany, Belgium etc they don't give funding to players but they allow them the opportunity to compete in local tournaments with good prize money.

Nobody wants to say it, but a lot of people are thinking it - this regime is going to be a disaster. We'll be starting again in 4 years time.

Timothy · Improver

Heard on the grapevine that Luke Bambridge is considering quitting, I would have thought he could make a career on the doubles circuit after the success he has had on the Futures tour.

Priesty · Challenger level

Timothy wrote:
Heard on the grapevine that Luke Bambridge is considering quitting, I would have thought he could make a career on the doubles circuit after the success he has had on the Futures tour.

That would make sense of some of his recent results. All this really is not good.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Timothy wrote:
Heard on the grapevine that Luke Bambridge is considering quitting, I would have thought he could make a career on the doubles circuit after the success he has had on the Futures tour.

I really hope this is nothing more than "end of season blues" on Luke's part. A winter break will hopefully do him good. This time last year, I was watching him beat Liam in La Manga. He is a year younger and definitely has the talent to go further up the rankings.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, CourtCrazy, there seems to me to be a real danger that "tough love" becomes - making life too difficult, mainly financially, for even relatively decent ranked players of still a relatively young age, to frankly make it not worth it. There are no doubt more serious issues, but if true, pay as you go at the NTC for ranked and often still improving pros seems an absolute nonsense.

And what may have more of an effect on deciding the direction a youngster gifted in tennis, but with other options, takes? Make it to the absolute top - great, fall a bit short - apparently left to sink or swim. Hmm, maybe football or cricket or ...

Life can be made too comfortable, it can also certainly be made too uncomfotable, and to my mind we need to retain a core of players below the absolute elite for whom life is not too uncomfortable.

Good points, similar to some made before by Coup Droit and others, about how many continental players have greater potential streams of income other than direct funding / assistance.

Are almost all of us missing something here or is it really potentially heading in a bad direction or indeed a "disaster" ?

At the moment it seems to be putting a dampener at the end of a year that offered a fair amount of good on the men's side and quite a lot of promise for the future on the women's side.

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Every LTA regime, for as long as I can remember, has talked about the need to grow the base of the pyramid such that there are sufficient numbers for some players to rise up towards the top. Most have taken steps to implement this; schools initiatives, more favourable funding for clubs with junior sections, etc. However, without exception, every regime has ensured that the central level of the pyramid is swept away, thus forever leaving a small elite at the top, an averagely healthy grass roots level and no connect between the two. As Sammel said in his recent article, you need players at every level to provide targets for others to move upwards.

Jaffa · Challenger level

I'm going to go the opposite way to most here. I actually think that this is a good idea. The coaching in this country has been terrible for years, lets face it. A lot of coaches are able to produce top 500 players but you can find them anywhere you go really if you are a performance player. The more we invest in coaches the more likely these players are to rise to the top, and, crucially, quicker than they would at the moment (look at an Ed Corrie, Dan Smethurst, Marcus Willis as examples) which would eliminate the need to exhaust the bonus scheme for a longer amount of time anyway.

I really don't think its as 'doomed' as some people are making out here.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I realise that neither Downey nor Brett are drawing Draper's extortionate salary, but the figures are still very healthy so maybe 'tough love' could being closer to home ?

After all, if we're cutting all funding for any player outside the very top, or very young, I guess we should cut all funding for any official from a federation outside the very top - so, on a 'matrix funding' basis, until the LTA has both general player participation rates and professional player ranking numbers that put the LTA in the top federation band, no 'funding' for any employee from manager level up.

Tough love, guys ? Try it.

Spectator · All-time great

I think the revelation for me on this board has been the inside knowledge of CD and others about how alternative systems work - which has highlighted that the primary difficulty is the lack of other (ie non-ITF and non-LTA-direct-funding) income-generating opportunities in the UK.

It felt as if the primary remedy for that was the British Tour, the Aegon Team tennis, and the bonus scheme. None of these was perfect: realistically, it sounds as if what you need is something much wider involving teams. But if two of the three are being cut, and we have not yet seen any evidence of a wider team-based strategy, I fail to see how this is much progress. And it does feel as if it may mean that tennis players who could be solid Challenger players are more likely to give up.

Were I 20 and fairly confident that I could make top-250 but not quite certain whether I'd be able to make top 100, would I necessarily be willing to live on a low income, travel constantly, be rubbished in the media, cope with constantly changing goalposts from my national tennis body, and do it all while aware that one significant injury could end my career? Maybe ... if you love something, you can put up with a lot. But the incentives are poor.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

As a separate point, I do notice that Anne Keothavong, Katie O'Brien. Lee Childs and Jamie Baker are on the LTA Tennis Performance Committee (one of the main committees), as well as others, - I do wonder what they think and what they voted . . .

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Timothy wrote:
Heard on the grapevine that Luke Bambridge is considering quitting, I would have thought he could make a career on the doubles circuit after the success he has had on the Futures tour.

I really SO hope this is not true. (And pooh to doubles).

Luke, if you're reading this, you're only 19, you're going to finish the year 150 place or so higher than last year, nearly top 500. It's obviously been a tough few months but, believe me, it's tough doing most 9-5 day jobs too. Take a bit of time to think it over, and whether the other options are really that great, and whether they can wait till later. You've got talent - there's nothing worse than regrets in years to come.

Jaffa · Challenger level

On another note, has anyone seen the first British Tour event ever with £1500 to the winner is happening next month?

paulisi · Tennis legend

No signs of the girls throwing in the towel, it just seems to be the boys.

indiana · Tennis legend

Of course I hope that Luke stays with it and there could still be a lot of upside. As CD says he would need to very carefully consider his options before any drastic decisions. I regret though that too many look as if they are having to consider their options.

This should never be some sort of test of how much they love tennis, what other options they have or some sort of weird survival competition ( use your initiative guys - camper vans, eat all you want meal deals etc. - how much do you want it ? )

Yes, less GB women currently seem to be looking at options but there are many less in that 200 to 600 bracket and more that are still young and improving with big aims and good luck to them. And enough relatively well ranked women have given up early before to still worry about their future. I don't see any men vs women issue here.

On another note, as commented before, Kyle and Liam are the only two under age 24 guys in the top 500. The next 4 under 24s are currently Oli, Tom, Luke and Ashley.