• Wimbledon

Henman blasts British talent

Andy Murray is the only British player to make it through to Wimbledon courtesy of his world ranking © Getty Images

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Former British No. 1 Tim Henman has hit out at the low number of home-grown players competing at Wimbledon this year.

World No. 4 Andy Murray is the only home player to gain entry via his ranking while fellow Scot Jamie Baker has been awarded a wild card. British No. 2 Alex Bogdanovic was one of 10 home players to fall in the men's qualifying event at Roehampton and missed out on a wildcard after losing in the first round at Wimbledon on eight previous occasions.

Bogdanovic recently complained about not being given enough support by the Lawn Tennis Association but two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Henman feels Britain's current crop of tennis talent only have themselves to blame for missing out.

"When are our players going to accept more responsibility for themselves?" Henman told the Daily Mail. "You're always hearing complaints about lack of funding, demanding to have a new coach or the parents complaining about something.

"Ultimately, it comes down to the player himself. I know Alex Bogdanovic, he's a nice lad and he has a lot of talent, but he really needs to look at himself in the mirror and ask if he deserves more funding. He's 26 now and after all he's had, he really shouldn't be getting any more.

"The LTA get a lot of things wrong, but too often they get blamed for everything. One of the problems is they seem very intimidated by the whole situation."

Henman is a member of the Wimbledon committee that hands out wildcards and has chosen to defend their decision to reward world No. 259 Baker, who has had a series of injuries, with a place at Wimbledon.

"We'd love nothing more than to be able to look at a long list of up-and-coming players who deserve a helping hand, but we just don't have that. It's not an English thing because we compete as Great Britain in tennis, but it is something that makes me very sad."

Meanwhile, three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker is shocked that there will be no Englishman in this year's singles draw.

"It's shocking and there's no excuse for it," Becker said. "This country has the greatest tournament of all. Somebody must be doing something wrong.

"It's a popular sport in this country but it's an elitist game. The image of tennis needs to change a bit. It's football, football, football and I wish, sometimes, it could be tennis."

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