Surprise as Leon Smith is named as Davis Cup captain

LTA to continue with public money

Mark Petchey's blast at Roger Draper

Watch this clip - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/8574745.stm

This video firmly agrees with my previous post that Draper has sent Britain backwards and should go.

Petchey's stats on the decrease in the average ranking and the tennis centres lost demonstrates the shocking state tennis finds itself in within Britain.

It is interesting to see what will come from the review considering one of the main guys responsible with the poor state, Player Director Steve Martens, is in charge of the review.

John Lloyd's departure and contenders

Unsurprisingly John Lloyd is the first man out of the revolving door at the Lawn Tennis Association as they begin yet another review into their blunders.

The now former Davis Cup captain perhaps should not take the brunt of the blame for the humiliating defeat to Lithuania but having become the first GB captain to suffer five consecutive losses, his chance of survival looked very slim.

Paul Annacone will also make way as the Davis Cup coach, although he will not be completely removed, as he still holds the position as head of men’s tennis.

With Lloyd leaving the side in the precarious position, of needing a win against Turkey to survive being relegated to lowest tier of the competition, it has left someone with a mammoth job on their hands, but who?

These are Net Cord’s five contenders:

Leading the race

1. Greg Rusedski

A phenomenal record on the court in the Davis Cup but has also the captaincy experience of leading a successful junior Davis Cup side. His relationship with the junior players, i.e. working with James Ward, and with the LTA makes him the outright leader. The only thing that could count against the former British number one is his so called ‘celebrity status’, which may draw unwanted attention to what is an already disgraced team.

2. Leon Smith

Maybe a surprise contender for most, considering his lack experience at this level, but the LTA has undoubtedly taken a shine to the young Scot. Although just 34 years of age and never reached the heights as a player, he has played a key role in the development of Murray meaning he, more than most could pursued the world number four to come back. Despite his position as head of the under-16s this could be a step too early for Smith.

The others

3. Colin Beecher

Current head of the under-18s has also taken the junior Davis Cup team to a surprise final last year. This type of understanding of young talent and cup know-how makes him a strong outsider. If Beecher is not selected for the captaincy the LTA might be tempted into handing him the role as Davis Cup coach.

4. Miles Maclagan

Has some experience at Davis Cup level in the early-00’s, but it is his great coaching abilities that put him in the frame, spearheading Murray to two Grand Slam finals. The problem though for the LTA will be prising him away from ‘Team Murray’, as the captaincy is a full time vacancy.

5. Tim Henman

A real fans favourite but unfortunately a long shot for the job. With an impressive Davis Cup record, the former British number one has huge amounts of experience at winning and digging deep when it matters, but apart from his media work during Wimbledon he has yet to come out of semi-retirement.

Roger and out

The Davis Cup defeat was just another nail in the coffin for the disgraced Lawn Tennis Association but there is only one man who should shoulder this burden.

That man is LTA Chief Executive Roger Draper.

The former Sports England CEO was appointed in February 2006 following a series of failures within the British game.

Now, four year on his job will be on the line for the same reasons ... and more.

When he began his reign the top of the game was in decent shape with Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski and a young and exciting Andy Murray all inside the top 50.

Underneath that was where the problems lay, with only Alex Bogdanovic ranked within the world’s top 150 and five others around the 300 mark.

This forced the LTA into a review of the game and triggered the appointment of a young and exuberant Draper.

The 36-year-old had big plans to make Britain a successful force within tennis. Although insisting that the process will take around ten years to come to fruition, he did note that there would be results along the way.

He may have been right in term of women’s tennis but on the men’s side it has gone from bad to worse.

In some ways you could say Draper was unlucky, with both Rusedski and Henman retiring, leaving Murray to be the solitary figure at the top of the British game.

However when you match up all the statistics now, to what he targeted at the beginning of his tenure, you then realise that this man has made little improvement to the men’s game.
Before his appointment we were in a worrying situation, but now the game is in complete disarray.

Minus Murray we were promised four others within the top 100 by 2012, this looks very unlikely, as we have just three players inside the world top 300 – to less than in 2006.

And that is just the failures on the elite side. At the junior level, he outlined that we would try to match the likes of France and Spain and have around 500,000 juniors participating in the sport. This looks to be another target that has massively fallen short with only 30,000 children to have picked up a racket.

Money

The one thing Draper will be remember for, if he is to be sacked, is his failure to input the vast amounts of money available to him in the correct areas.

We realised what he was all about when he sent a number of his backroom staff to Buenos Aries to ‘support’ the Great Britain team for their World Group play off tie against Argentina, which they lost.

Since that day on he has spent the money on the top end rather than the bottom end. Instead of pumping the money through the grassroots he has piled it on a batch of elite players that the majority are undeserved of it.

His inadequacy in funding was highlighted furthermore in building the LTA’s new head quarters at the National tennis centre. Although an incredible facility for our countries best it is fundamentally a waste of money when that could have gone towards thousands of mistreated tennis clubs and centres across Britain.

If Roger Draper was a manager or chairman of a football club and he wasted the resources like he has done and in return only getting back poor results, he would sacked within a flash.

Why should tennis be any different? We know where the problem lies. It is just left for the LTA to put two and two together - get rid and move on. It is the only way.

Great Britain suffer humiliation

British performances have usually been reviewed after the two weeks on the lawns at Wimbledon but now the Davis Cup has highlighted the obvious lack of depth within British tennis.

Great Britain’s 3-2 loss to Lithuania on Sunday was a hammer blow to the LTA, who will now have to reflect on another failure and be exposed to even more anger from British tennis fans and tax payers alike.

Dan Evans five set defeat in the deciding rubber will result in Great Britain needing a win against Turkey to survive being relegated to the football equivalent of the Conference.

This is a sad sight considering that in February 2008 we had the chance of making the World Group before being outclassed in Buenos Aries by a strong Argentinean outfit.

The sudden decline may shock some viewers but for many including the LTA knew this impending void behind Andy Murray was eventually going to be exposed.

It is clear that without the British no.1 and world no.4, Britain are particularly light in numbers, with only four other men inside the top 300.

So where should the finger get pointed?

Firstly, I refuse to blame the likes of James Ward and Evans who fought tooth and nail for their country in what was a narrow defeat.

There display’s demonstrated that they have the heart for the battle, especially Evans, who showed signs of great maturity in taking the pressured deciding rubber to a tense deciding set before just falling agonisingly short.

Nor even captain John Lloyd, who suffered his fifth straight defeat as skipper. Although his record does not bode well for a renewed contract in September and will most likely depart sooner rather than later.

But it is the heads at the LTA that must shoulder the burden for this disastrous defeat.

The likes of LTA Player Director Steve Martens and Chief Executive Roger Draper should be the ones that suffer the consequences for THEIR failure.

They must realise that losing to a team like Lithuania is inexcusable, considering their lack of pedigree within the sport - not forgetting their distinct difference in funds available.

The amount of money soaked up in the LTA is unbelievable. For instance many of the hierarchy within the corridors of the multi million pound National Tennis Centre probably earn more than the resources available to successful Lithuanian team (£90,000 a year).

Meanwhile, the LTA has wasted millions, upon millions in their failed pursuit to get five players in the top 100 by 2008 (set in 2005) and 500,000 juniors competing (currently 30,000).

How do you expect tax payers to react when £27 million of their money is being squandered in the hands of people who are clearly unable to input it into the correct areas.

Big decisions need to be made and the right people need to stand up and leave or else the British game will be unable to escape this terrible rut that it finds itself in.

Welcome!

Net Cord blog supports the website http://netcord.moonfruit.com/, which reveals whether the Lawn Tennis Association are providing sufficient support for the next generation of British men’s tennis, while also discovering if the next batch of players are in fact good enough to worthy it.

Following the shock defeat to Lithuania in the Davis Cup, Net Cord will be blogging on how the British game will look to improve and will keep a close eye on the progress of the elite junior players.

Feel free to comment on any of my posts and also join the debate on our website forum.

Enjoy