Progress is being made by the LTA, says Roger Draper

Lawn Tennis Association chief executive Roger Draper has told his critics to judge the state of British tennis on more than just what goes on at Wimbledon.

Last year at SW19, Andy Murray was the only British player to win a match in either the men's or women's singles, prompting familiar criticism of the LTA.

Ahead of this year's tournament, Draper said: "People tell me it was the worst Wimbledon.

"But we had people in the semis in the men's singles and boys singles and an all-British boys doubles final. Is that the worst Wimbledon ever? If I judge myself on the first day at Wimbledon every year it's like playing Russian roulette. You can't control what's going on.

"What we can control is what's going on during the other 50 weeks of the year in parks and schools and clubs."

Britain currently boast three top-100 singles players, with Murray the world No 4 in the men's rankings. Tennis in the UK received a boost last week when Murray was joined in the semi-finals at Queen's Club by compatriot James Ward. In the women's game, Elena Baltacha and 19-year-old Heather Watson are flying the flag.

There are also a host of youngsters impressing on the junior circuit, but many people still see this as a poor return given the finance at the LTA's disposal.

Draper said: "We had a target for ten players in top 100 - four singles, six doubles - by 2010. We've got three singles and seven doubles, so we're behind in one, ahead in the other.

"Look at it in four-year blocks. Four years ago there were no British doubles players in the top 100. Now there are seven.

"Three years ago no British women in top 100, now there are two, nearly three. I don't call that failure.

"It's not going to be overnight change. But I can assure you a lot of things are in the right place with talent identification, high-performance centres and support for junior players.

"One thing we can't do is put Ollie Golding, Liam Broady, George Morgan, Kyle Edmund and Pete Ashwell in a time machine. We know the best age for a tennis player is 28, those guys are just 17.

"We're encouraged by what's coming behind. We just have to be patient. And make sure all those kids remain on the international programmes."

He added: "Because we're not used to success, there's an atmosphere of negativity. We've half a million people playing every week. We've magnificent programmes to develop junior talent. The problem is we have a culture that wants instant results. Then what happens is, because they don't come, you rip up the strategy, start again, pay off executives and waste all your time and money."