The Lawn Tennis Association has insisted British tennis is heading in the right direction a decade since Andy Murray’s first Wimbledon win – although it concedes that more needs to be done.
Speaking exclusively to the Guardian, the LTA chief executive, Scott Lloyd, pointed out that Britain now had more players in the top 200 than at any time in the last 40 years – and was also the only country, apart from Spain, to have produced both male and female grand slam singles champions in the past decade.
On the eve of Murray’s first-round Wimbledon match against the British No 7 Ryan Peniston, Lloyd also claimed the grassroots game was booming, with 10% of the country picking up a racket at least once a year.
“In 2013, Andy was the only British male player in the top 200 in the world,” he said. “Recently we’ve had four men in the top 50 in the world. In 2013 we had three women in the top 150, now we have double that number. Overall, during the past year, British tennis has had more players in the top 200 than at any time in the past 40 years and our wheelchair tennis players continue to lead the world.”
As the funding body for British tennis, the LTA provides substantial support for the grassroots as well as funding for elite players as they progress from talented teenagers to the top of the sport.
However there has been criticism in some quarters that despite the LTA spending over £14.2m a year on elite players, British stars have not achieved sustained success at grand slams, Murray apart. However Lloyd insisted that British tennis had much to be proud about.
“We know that for the general public nothing cuts through like a grand slam victory, but producing grand slam champions is not easy – only two nations have produced both male and female grand slam singles champions during the past 10 years,” he said. “Ourselves, with Andy and Emma Raducanu, and Spain.
“The very nature of performance sports means there will be ups and downs but we’re doing all we can to build on Andy’s incredible achievements and give British players a real chance of success both now and for the future. We are heading in the right direction, but there is further to go.”
Lloyd also gave a bullish assessment on the lower levels of the game, saying that participation is increasing for both men and women, and in every single part of Great Britain.
“At grassroots level tennis is booming,” he said. “At the end of May 2023 the number of adults reporting they had played tennis during the past 12 months had risen by 40% compared to a year earlier.
“Our data shows 10% of the entire adult population now pick up a racket at least once a year. Sport England’s Active Lives survey backs up this trend and found that tennis is one of the very few sports to record higher children’s participation numbers than before the pandemic.
“We are also putting a big focus on parks tennis. With £30.2m in investment from the UK government and LTA tennis foundation, the LTA is renovating thousands of park courts that had fallen into disrepair and desperately needed refurbishing.”
