Why can't England produce any good male tennis players ?

Question

With the exception of the occasional upperclass public schoolboy types who who lack the killer instinct ?

Answer 1

Lack of facilities and the fact that kids just aren't exposed to it at a young age.
When I was 5 or 6 my parents used to take me to the local park for a knockabout on the tennis court. They weren't fantastic players, nor were they toffs and I didn't go to a public school. It was just one of those things we did in our spare time for fun and a bit of exercise. I also got to play at secondary school if I wanted to. But it's true that most kids have never picked up a racket.
The fact that it's not free to play at most public parks is a disgrace.
The sheer laziness of kids these days, with the advent of video games etc means they don't go out looking for stuff to do. Added to that you have the overprotective parents who wouldn't dream of letting their kids leave the house unless the parents were with them, and consequently the kids are pretty much housebound if the parents work, means kids just don't get out there.
OK, so that is the general reason for us not being a terribly sporty nation.
As far as tennis goes, we just haven't ploughed the money into facilities for those few kids who do show a bit of promise.
If you look back, for instance, at the Russian gymnasts of the 70s, they were identified as having some promise sometimes at the age of 4. They were then moved into specialist training camps, where all they did was train, train, train. Their education came second. They did it for hours a day, and they were trained by people who did not accept failure as an option.
It may sound harsh - but look at their results. They were the top gymnasts for over a decade. I'm not necessarily condoning their methods, but it proves that some serious measures have to be taken to produce champions.
There are always anomalies like Roger Federer, who no doubt could win tennis matches with his eyes shut and one arm behind his back.
You can tell from players like Henman etc that they have just not had the absolute drive to win (at all costs) drilled into them from a young age. The terribly polite British point of view of "It's not the winning, it's the taking part" is fine as long as you don't ever want to win anything important.
Until a sportsman pretty much views his sport, and winning, as a life or death situation, he/she is not going to have that killer instinct.

Answer 2

I don't think they have any good female tennis players too btw. Don't count out Andy Murray. He has defeated Federer before and he's till very young. I'm sure he won't be a disappointment like Tim Henman, who was touted to win Wimbledon, but can hardly make it pass the first round these days.

Answer 3

1. Tennis in England is an elitist sport which is very expensive to play

2. The LTA make tens of millions of pounds every year from Wimbledon and puts only a tiny percentage of this back into grassroots tennis.

3. There are a huge amount of appallingly bad "tennis coaches" in the UK. A weekend on a babysitting course qualifies you as a club coach.

Answer 4

1. Serve: Isner 2. Forehand: Juan Martin Del Potro 3. Backhand: Richard Gasquet (single-handed)/Novak Djokovic(double-handed) 4. Personality: Gael Monfils 5. Eyes: Feliciano Lopez 6. Smile: Jo Willy 7. Body: Feliciano :) 8. Girlfriend: Novak! Jelena is so pretty! 9. Mother: Andy Murray (Judy!) 10. Uncle: Rafa, I guess. So, Toni. BQ1: I have no clue. You, I'm guessing? BQ2: Again, no idea. Mrs. Djokovic? BQ3: Cristiano Ronaldo? Johnny Depp?

Answer 5

Well, Scotland and the UK as a whole have got Andy Murray, who I find is a brilliant young player. I think he's definitely going places.

Answer 6

Errr, why can't England produce ANY good athletes. When was the last time we really were Champions at anything?

Answer 7

Well, at least Andy Murray is there, even though he is a Scott. I don't think there is even a single British woman in the top-100 today.

Answer 8

Because tennis is boring and like all sports (with the exception of football) there is absolutely no government funding to support young people that do want to learn sport. Schools are cutting sports at an alarming rate and all our kids are too fat to even run to the net because parents would rather feed them mcdonalds than upset their little darlings......sorry i appear to have gone into rant mode....errr.....bye

Answer 9

Because there is tough competition and requires long hours of dedicated practice and consistent physical fitness to earn good money in tennis,where as there are better and easier methods to make money or become popular.

Answer 10

Because the good players in other country.Englands player are not very active in tennis.