So Britain has Andy Murray at number 4. But after him....who?
Ward 176, Cox 272, Evans 305. Not good is it.
In comparison to similar size countries, for instance France who have 4 players in the top 20 and 8 players in the top 100 being;
Monfils 8, Gasquet 13, Simon 16, Tsonga 19, Llodra 35, Chardy 54, Benneteau 74, Mahut 94
or Spain having 10 players in the top 50 and 14 players in the top 100 being;
Nadal 1, Ferrer 6, Almagro 15, Verdasco 22, Robredo 31, Montanes 34, Garcia-Lopez 41, Lopez 44, Granollers 48, Andujar 50, Gimeno-Traver 59, Riba 71, Ferrero 80, Ramos 87
Maybe it`s because tennis is seen by many only two weeks a year with Wimbledon and don`t even know it`s played 11 months of the year. It`s also regarded as a toff sport in Britain where it`s not in other countries.
And please don`t blame the British weather as Sweden and Germany have produced many a champion with great indoor facilities.
So what gives?
Why so few British in the top 100?
posted on 20/6/11
Forget British Tennis. Why so little English top players?
All our top sports players seem to be of South African, Scottish, in fact any country other than English.
Our cricket team has countless players who cannot make up their mind which country they are from. Our Rugby team also seems to be filled with NZ or SA players.
Only our Football team is predominantly English and they are cack. Our English Tennis stars are cack.
posted on 20/6/11
Id have to say participation combined with life style.
How many kids are playing the sports. How many of those kids, when they get to their teens are still playing and being coached. How many are then good enough to turn pro. You tend to find that the numbers will always start out high, but then become much much smaller.
Therefore you need a large base to begin with. The larger the base, the more chance of having a top player produced.
In my opinion, not enough kids are encouraged(pushed) into sports at a young age, and the ones which are, they get drawn away by other activities, ie Drinking, girls/boys etc.
From living in Spain for a year, they have a dramatically different way of doing things.
posted on 20/6/11
I'd say it's one or more or all of the following:
- The coaching in this country isn't good/available enough.
- Not enough encouragement/exposure for the youngsters.
- We play such a wide range of popular sports in this country that we find it difficult to generate a talent pool large enough in 1 sport to lead to real success in that particular sport.
- It's the lifestyle. Too many distractions mean youngsters are not pursuing their interest in the sport.
- The weather in this country isn't good enough.
- The facilities aren't good/available enough.
posted on 24/6/11
There just aren't the numbers playing the game. I hear the same garbage every year during Wimbledrool fortnight (usually during a rain interuption on BBC R5 Dead): yet another initiative to increase the number of kids playing and better access to coaching...only the truth is, for a couple of weeks of the year, kids suddenly get 'interested' in tennis but they can't get onto a court because of adults playing their usual doubles match of the summer. Tennis doesn't lend itself to a street game like football...and besides, it gets very boring when the ball never gets returned after a serve...we're not talking 'aces' of course, but a general lack of hand/eye co-ordination and ability to hit the ball! It's easier to kick a football about. Kids will usually choose the games that are easier to play and that promise more involvement. If they aren't 'forced' into playing tennis at school then the chances are,most kids won't bother, simply because there's little chance of instant self gratification.