Monday, 15 March, 2010

Legendary tennis coach Nick Bollettieri has defended Lawn Tennis Association chief Roger Draper over last weekend's Davis Cup embarrassment, insisting the problem stems from the fact Britain "is not a tennis nation".

Britain were condemned to a play-off against Turkey to avoid relegation to Europe/Africa Zone Group III - the lowest tier of the competition - after defeat to Lithuania, prompting calls for Draper and team captain John Lloyd to be removed from their posts.

But Bollettieri has a different opinion, and wrote in his column on www.sportingintelligence.com: "To pick one or two people and start calling for them to be removed isn't a cure-all solution. The blame game won't work because British tennis has shortcomings with deep cultural and historical roots. There's even an argument that Britain is not a "tennis nation"."

He continued: "Sure, you stage the most prestigious event in the world - Wimbledon. But your national sports are soccer and cricket, and your Olympic resources go to cycling, rowing, sailing, swimming, all sports at which you excel at or are improving in. Tennis is part of a social scene.

"So to argue that Roger Draper, the chief executive of the LTA, is responsible for British tennis's ills is to misidentify the problem. If you'd had generations of Grand Slam winners and then they'd disappeared, then seek blame. But those generations of British tennis winners never existed, not this side of the black-and-white movie era."

Looking at what can be done to remedy the problem, he added: "I guess in a Utopia I'd say build an academy in England and open it to the world. Put your best and the best of the rest together. But that's not a small ambition, that's a long way off, if at all.

"(In the short term) I'd say take your best young players and help them to spend time in other, more testing environments, even just for a few weeks here and there.

"You need to make your athletes central to your planning, and find a way so the best work together. You need consistently to push your players, to provide them with the best coaches. Those coaches also need exposure to the best methods from elsewhere.

"I'm talking now about the players below (British number one Andy) Murray, the young players like Daniel Evans and James Ward who played against Lithuania. At their age - 19 and upwards - it should no longer be about techniques, it should be about building physical strength, about conditioning, mentality, strategy, and of course day-in, day-out improvement against players as good and better than you."

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Bollettieri defends LTA
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