Andy Murray: Action needed to inspire next generation

ANDY Murray has created a golden age for British tennis and yesterday he demanded that the Lawn Tennis Association build on his hard-won success.

The victorious Great Britain team, Dom Inglot (left), James Ward, Kyle Edmund, Captain Leon Smith, Dan Evans, Matt Little, Jamie Murray and Andy Murray. Picture: Getty Images

Murray, an Olympic, Wimbledon and US Open champion, helped win the Davis Cup for Britain on Sunday alongside brother Jamie.

Theyhave built their own careers, fought their own battles and emerged as champions but, as Andy pointed out in Ghent yesterday, when they look over their shoulders for the next generation of players ready to follow in their footsteps, they see no faces.

Speaking at a Press conference in the Belgian city after a night of celebration, Andy revealed that, a few weeks ago, he went to the £40 million National Training Centre in Roehampton, built by the previous regime at the LTA and designed to be the nerve centre of the elite training groups in the UK. When he looked for a hitting partner, a promising junior to give him a workout, he found the place eerily quiet.

“I was there on a Monday at like two, three o’clock and then on Tuesday, the same time,” Andy explained. “There was not one person using any of the indoor courts and not one person in the gym. I took photos of it because the place cost like £40m and there are no people. No players in there practising in there. It was empty.

“There is nothing going on there at all. And, you know, it doesn’t necessarily have to be performance players, but there’s just nothing going on. And it’s such a shame, walking in there and there’s nobody in there.”

With a new-ish regime and yet another change of focus at the top end of the game in Britain, the NTC has become the Mary Celeste of the sport while, at the bottom end of the pile, there are no juniors coming through.

In the past couple of years, Britain has not had one junior boy competing in the US Open, won by Murray as a junior in 2004.

“I have said it a million times,” Jamie chipped in, putting his brother’s achievements into context, “it is a shame because Andy has done such amazing things in his career, and for tennis in this country. And, of course, now we have won the Davis Cup. But he is the one who has captured the interest of the people, not just this weekend but throughout his career.

“Now we have got a good chance to make the most of it. We have the opportunity to make tennis really popular in this country.

“The offset of that is that you could get somebody else who has the chance to get to do what he has done. But, unfortunately, it does not seem that way – either that it is happening or looking like it is happening. That needs to change.”

When Andy won Wimbledon, the LTA sat on its hands. For 77 years, the country had waited for a home-grown champion and when, at last, it found one, the general feeling was “that’s nice, isn’t it…” When Andy was beating David Goffin to win the Davis Cup final on Sunday, Michael Downey, the LTA’s chief executive, was there waving his union flag and proudly wearing his Team GB tracksuit top (and looking slightly incongruous given that he is a Canadian). So what did he intend to do with Britain’s newfound success? Not a lot, as it turned out.

“We need to keep in mind the time of year we have got,” he said. “Participation peaks when you head into the spring/summer period. I think the key thing for us is to take advantage of what we call “the earned media”, which is all [the media coverage]. That is going to encourage participation. We are hoping this team wins [BBC sports] team of the year. That would happen later in December. Then we will head towards that March period. Our team gets to come back to a home tie in Birmingham and that’s going to be the time when we really want to see the activation hit a high level, because it’s coming into that important participation season of spring and summer.”

It seems the LTA’s official plan is to let the national media publicise their sport, have the Davis Cup team celebrate their sport and hope that those nice people at the BBC give Andy and the boys a gong before Christmas. And that is how the LTA build on this historic Davis Cup win. It was no wonder Andy sounded frustrated.

“They need to act on it now,” he said, simply. “It’s no use doing it in 18 months. It should have started before today but if it was to start today, I think it’s time to make some positive changes so that things get better.”

But if two lads from Dunblane can bring the Davis Cup back to Britain for the first time in 79 years, sorting out British tennis ought to be a doddle for them. And if the LTA would actually listen to them, they could start work right away.