• British tennis

Henman's patience runs thin with British tennis

ESPN staff
June 16, 2011
Tim Henman believes youth policy needs to change if Britain is to produce more Andy Murrays © Getty Images
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Tim Henman believes British tennis needs a fundamental change in its youth policy if it is to produce more top-class professionals.

A four-time semi-finalist at Wimbledon, Henman can sympathise with Andy Murray, who is often left flying the flag solo for Britain.

Murray is often the only British player ranked in the world's top 250 players, and despite a glittering effort from James Ward at Queen's last week, Henman believes British tennis is punching well below its weight.

"I started playing professionally in 1992 and I'm getting a bit bored of people saying, 'We've got to be patient'," Henman told the Daily Telegraph.

While the Lawn Tennis Association is concentrating its efforts on increasing participation, Henman believes it needs to be more discriminatory in its selection process and start poaching all-round athletes at a young age.

"It's not about numbers here," he said. "It's not about saying, 'We can get a million juniors playing'. You have to get the right ones - and I'm not sure we do such a good job of that.

"If I was going to be involved, you have to go back to the seven, eight and nine-year-olds, into the clubs and schools," he argues. "You have to take the ones who are in the first XI in football, the first XV in rugby and the first XI in cricket, to get them playing tennis.

"They are the ones who have the athletic ability and hand-eye co-ordination. If you have a good structure of coaches, then you'll see more players coming through and you'll have a better crop to work with."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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