Andy Murray: ‘British tennis has built a £40m centre nobody uses’

Andy Murray, who put Britain on top of the tennis world with victory in the Davis Cup at the weekend, says he has given up talking to the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) about the future of the game back home as it is a waste of time.
The 28-year-old inspired Britain to the Davis Cup title for the first time in 79 years with their victory over Belgium in Ghent, but Murray, who clinched the final point on Sunday, said not enough was being down to nurture fresh talent. Murray complained about a lack of practice partners when he returned home to train at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton. “There is nobody to train with when I am at home, nobody to practise with anymore, which makes things frustrating,” said Murray. “You want to have the best possible practice and training to prepare for the biggest events and we don’t have that anymore.
“There was not one person using any of the indoor courts and not one person in the gym. I took photos of it because the place cost like £40m pounds, and there are no people.”
“Nothing ever gets done. So I don’t want to waste my time talking about stuff. I don’t speak to any of the people who are in a high-up position about that,” Murray told reporters on Monday. “I don’t know where the next generation are. It is a shame because, regardless of whether or not we had a load of players at the top of the professional game, the juniors were never a problem before. “We used to have junior No.1s, and juniors competing for Grand Slams on the guys’ and the girls’ side. It was just that bringing them on to become the best seniors was something we weren’t so good at. “It’s concerning not to have any juniors in the grand slams because that is something we were always very good at. It’s not ideal.” OUR VIEW Great Britain should enjoy the Davis Cup success because it could be a while before such a feat is emulated. When Murray departs the scene, you do wonder who is going to succeed the Scot? To suggest there is a dearth of world class talent in Britain is an understatement. Britain have enjoyed decent credibility in professional tennis over the past 20 years courtesy of Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski, who hailed from Canada, and Murray, but there does not appear to be a level of British tennis mundaneness following Murray. Aljaz Bedene is 45th in the world after world number two Murray, but he became British via Slovenia, a country he turned out for in the Davis Cup. It is difficult to understand the recent comments by the former British Davis Cup captain David Lloyd, who suggested Murray does not pour enough back into tennis in these parts. “I think I’d probably disagree with that, considering he’s carried the team to the Davis Cup final,” said Henman. “He’s won Wimbledon, the US Open, Olympic gold. That’s the most important thing for him to do, to concentrate on his preparation and performance on the court.” If British tennis can’t rouse enough interest in the sport courtesy of Murray’s ongoing excellence, you have to wonder if the right people are running the sport.
source: eurosport.com