Sutcliffe eager to avoid tennis 'war'

Published on Sunday 14 March 2010 23:30

SPORTS minister Gerry Sutcliffe has urged British tennis not to go to "war with itself" as the fall-out continues from last weekend's Davis Cup defeat in Lithuania.

John Lloyd's team face relegation to the lowest division of the Davis Cup following a 3-2 defeat to a lowly-ranked Lithuanian side, their fifth successive defeat.

The humiliating loss led for many to call for the departure of Lawn Tennis Association chief executive Roger Draper while Sutcliffe has brokered a meeting between the LTA and the Parliamentary All-Party Tennis Group, which is to hold evidence sessions to look into the direction British tennis is taking from the grassroots up with the help of more than 26 million of public funding from Sport England.

"What I want the LTA to do with the All-Party Group is work together," said Sutcliffe during a visit to the Paralympic Winter Games in Canada.

"There clearly are critics out there who've got a view that things aren't going well. Well, this is an opportunity for the LTA to set out its stall, for the All-Party Group to interview those people with an alternative or opposing point of view and then for a positive result to come out from that to go back to the LTA and say where potential gaps may be.

"But it has to be in a consensual way. What I don't want is the sport being at war with itself. We've got to try and make sure they work together for the best interests of the sport."

Sutcliffe refused to single out Draper for the blame despite the LTA chief executive bearing the brunt of the criticism.

"I think that's unfair," he said. "At the end of the day, Roger is one man in a board and he has to work within the sport. So my view is that he should, as he said he would do, work with the All-Party Group and I hope we get the right answers.

"I think that what we want to see is a growing developments of the grassroots game to ensure that it's available to anybody that wants to play, whether that's in school, in communities, and from that we widen the talent pool.

"It's a great sport but there's also a competitive view from right around the sport, so this is an opportunity to get things off their chest but do it in a positive way for the sport so the sport grows.

"Obviously (grassroots development) helps onto the elite level and clearly nobody's happy, not even Roger, about where we are in terms of the men's Davis Cup team.

"But I'm sure this process will help because people are pulling together for the right results."

Meanwhile, Scotland's Elena Baltacha was soundly beaten by Australia's Alicia Molik in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells yesterday.

Qualifier Baltacha progressed to meet wildcard Molik courtesy of a marathon 7-6 (10/8), 2-6, 7-6 (9/7) win over China's Li Na in almost three hours. But she was thrashed by Molik, the world No138 and fifth-ranked Australian, losing 6-0, 6-2.

Baltacha, the world No65, recorded a first-serve percentage of 33 per cent in the first set as Molik ruthlessly converted all three break points on offer.

The British No1 fell two breaks down early in the second set before eventually holding serve twice, but it was too late as Molik eased to victory in 56 minutes.

Molik will now meet either China's Zheng Jie or former world No1 Maria Sharapova of Russia in the fourth round.

In the men's event, holder Rafa Nadal of Spain eased into the third round with a commanding 6-4, 6-4 victory over Germany's Rainer Schuettler on Saturday.

Second-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic survived a lapse in the second set before he held off American Mardy Fish to record a topsy-turvy 6-1, 0-6, 6-2 win in the late match.

Fifth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko also advanced, beating Latvia's Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-4, but eighth seed Marin Cilic of Croatia made an early exit, losing 7-6, 6-0 to Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

World No3 Nadal broke his opponent in the seventh game of the second set before clinching victory in one hour 34 minutes amid blustery conditions.

"It was a good start in the conditions for me and I'm very happy," said Nadal, competing for the first time since the Australian Open in January.

&#149 Ian Wood is on holiday.