• Chris Wilkinson

Why British youngsters aren't making the grade

Serbia beat France to win the Davis Cup for the first time in their history © PA Photos

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Serbia's victory in the Davis Cup last week just goes to prove that you don't need to invest millions to produce good tennis players.

Perhaps the French didn't quite perform to the standard we have come to expect of them, but take nothing away from an historic Serbian victory - and the crowd in Belgrade played a massive part in that. It might have been a different result if the tie had been played in France.

What makes the victory even more impressive is the fact that the Serbian tennis federation have very little money. When you consider that the LTA spend around £60 million a year, the Serbian federation get by on £1.26m a year. That said, Djokovic's father, Srdjan, claimed that Serbia's triumph was not thanks to the federation, crediting the players and their families for the victory.

While the LTA receive around £30 million a year from Wimbledon, the Serbian federation balance a much tighter budget. The success has come from the players - and it is arguably because of this funding shortage that the players do so well - there has been a rise in players from Serbia and other countries from the eastern bloc and you can see they have a real hunger to succeed.

A perfect example of this was in Great Britain's Davis Cup defeat to Lithuania in March - on paper the British team should have walked that tie, but the Lithuanian players were hungry and wanted to win more.

France may have lost to Serbia in the final, but they have won the title nine times and are a constant presence in the World Group. France have 11 players in the top 100; Andy Murray is the only Brit in the top 200. A nation with a proud tennis tradition and a similar-sized population, France is clearly succeeding where Britain is not.

When I was just starting out, at the age of 18, 19, I spent a lot of time in France, playing in the money tournaments out there. The structure of the French system is vastly superior to the system in the UK. The clubs are more involved in tournaments and with the development of players, and as a result are more aware of what is going on on the tennis scene, and they are able to spot talent and produce successful tennis players.

The club set-up is more proactive, the coaches are better and the programmes works better so there is a big difference. Over here in the UK the tournament structure is not great and the entry process does not always guarantee the best players can get into tournaments.

There is no shortage of young British talent in this country - we have a very strong junior set-up, but the problem seems to be that none of the kids seem to make the grade as seniors.

A kid called James Baily was hyped as the next big thing for British tennis after he won the 1993 Australian Open boys' title, but he never came to anything. Jamie Delgado came with a lot of hype, and Martin Lee was another one, but they never managed to transfer their success at the top level.

I just wonder whether there is too much emphasis on junior tennis in this country and perhaps it would be a positive move to encourage them to make the transition a little bit earlier - even if it is a daunting prospect.

Laura Robson is a British youngster expected to make her mark this season © Getty Images

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Laura Robson was obviously only 14 when she burst onto the scene, winning the Wimbledon girls' title in 2008. Now she is 16 she should be looking to make her mark on the WTA Tour this year. Robson has been training in Paris, and it seems that the top British players who do make the grade learnt their trade overseas.

If you look at the British players who have done well, none of them have come through the LTA. Tim Henman was brought through a private enterprise, Greg Rusedski grew up in Canada and Andy Murray spent much of his teenage years abroad.

The LTA want to keep hold of the top players because they want to have a monopoly but they risk ruining British tennis. If they let the talented youngsters go abroad they cannot say they came through their system, so the funding comes at a price.

There is not enough flexibility at club level - the LTA come in and tell the coach how to coach and they don't allow clubs to develop their youngsters as they see fit. Clubs would benefit hugely from having the freedom to develop as individual clubs, but they are not being allowed. If they spot a talented youngster coming through the ranks, they are often swiftly transferred to a national training centre.

I have seen that happen a lot - I've got experience playing at the top level and I'm an experienced coach but the LTA want that youngster to play at the national centre. They won't look at each situation individually and try to assess what is best for that particular player; they just try to apply a formula to every youngster.

Admittedly, some youngsters will benefit from moving to a national centre, but others would be best staying at their home club under the guidance of a strong coach, or even moving abroad, but each case should be treated individually. They should look at what works best for a player, and that depends on the mechanics of the situation.

Chris Wilkinson is a former British No. 1

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