Andy Murray blasts British tennis for failing to capitalise on his success

Tennis365
January 16, 2019

Andy Murray has criticised the Lawn Tennis Association for allowing British tennis to stagnate despite an era of success.

Murray has been hailed as Britain’s greatest ever sportsman following his decision he will most likely retire in the near future due to a devastatingly persistent hip injury.

However, he has asked the LTA just what they have done to build on what he has achieved to help produce another elite British tennis player.

“I’m not sure Britain has really capitalised on the last seven or eight years of success we’ve had,” he said.

“Whether it be myself, my brother, Jo [Konta], Kyle [Edmund], the Davis Cup, those sorts of things, I’m not sure how much we’ve done there.

“There are quite a few players coming through that have potential to go on and do better, but obviously you are talking about the high end of the game.”

“Maybe it’s something I should have given more thought to while I was playing but I never felt that was my job to do that,” he added. “It is a little bit disappointing. I don’t understand how in the last eight to 10 years that participation is dropping – I don’t get it.

“I know in Scotland that there have not been many indoor courts built in the last 10 years. That seems madness. I don’t understand why that is.

“You need to get kids playing; you need to have the facilities that allow them to do that.”

Andy’s brother Jamie echoed those concerns, saying that the LTA have perhaps taken their success for granted.

“My greatest worry was that he would stop one day, which obviously feels like it’s been probably accelerated, and you would look around the country and there wouldn’t be much to show for it. And if you go around the country you probably see that,” he said.

“It is sad because how on earth are you going to grow a sport if you can’t do it when you’ve got one of the biggest stars in tennis for the last 10 years, and one of Britain’s most prominent sportspeople?”