British Tennis heading in different directions

British tennis seems to be in a transition stage at the moment with both some positive and worrying signs. On the men's side it hasn't really looked as weak for years and years with the apparent lack of quality below Andy Murray. This is despite the LTA being the richest tennis organization in the world, having tremendous facilities such as the NTC in Roehampton and having world class coaches based there.
 
Following the dismal Davis cup defeat to Austria a week and a half ago, the LTA along with the lack of quality below Murray has been heavily criticized. Everything seemed to go wrong in that tie with Bogdanovic twice throwing away bright starts to lose both his singles matches. The LTA also promoted the event incredibly badly with the stadium only being roughly 75% full for the last day, despite two live singles rubbers being played on it. It was a poor show from start to finish and I think Murray is spot on in questioning the attitudes of his fellow Brits as men's tennis seems to be worsening in this country and it's optimistic for Roger Draper to be relying on a crop of teenagers ranked between 550 and 1200 in the world to make the next breakthrough.
 
Alex Bogdanovic has always been under intense scrutiny from the press due to him failing to fulfil his true potential. He is now ranked at a lowly 171 and it's sad to say that his best days may now even be behind him. The monstrosity of his defeat against Peya will be tough to overcome. He's never won a Davis cup live match despite being given numerous chances and never managed to win a main draw match in Wimbledon despite having eight attempts at doing so. I don't feel it's totally down to a lack of effort as I just think he's always facing an uphill battle with his natural personality and demeanour on court. Bogdanovic and Murray couldn't be any more different and it really shows out there in the heat of the battle. The more pressure and the bigger the occasion you can usually be sure that Andy will play inspired tennis which is just down to his personality and how he relishes the challenge. Bogdanovic however seems to become inhibited at the prospect of winning a big match in front of millions of people. As soon as the momentum turned against him in both his matches it was almost game set match. His head didn't drop as such but you just sensed the panic in his play, and the negative vibes he was giving out, almost saying, 'what will be the reaction if I lose this one as well'. It's a shame as he does have a complete game despite it being lightweight. He can hit a sweet ball but unfortunately a professional player needs a lot more than that to break the top 100. He was leading by a set, 4-1 and 15-40 up on Melzer's serve but as soon as Melzer won a tough game to break back to 4-3 it looked incredibly ominous. Alex lacks that killer instinct which is required to play these matches, which unfortunately can't be learned or taught in my opinion.
 
It's also mind boggling that a professional can be so slow. During both those matches as soon as he was stretched or wrong footed it was point over. I mean he has had Brad Gilbert and Peter Lundgren travelling with him over the last year or so. It doesn't just highlight the desperate attempts the LTA are making to find a second player to Murray and the money they are willing to spend, but it also even increases the pressure on Alex to succeed. Not something he needed really and didn't really forward his career much. No one can really contemplate being that slow with the facilities available for him to use. It's baffling really and similar to Melanie South's and Naomi Cavaday's similar problems in their games. They are not in shape, and no excuses can be made for this so the question is either whether it's because they're lazy or whether the conditioning they do is really that bad? It surely can't be the latter.
 
After Bogdanovic in the rankings comes Josh Goodall. He has done well to get to one place outside the top 200, so you have the admire how far he's got but then you have to question if he can actually go any further. He's a hard worker but I feel lacks the quality. A 6-1 6-1 defeat to a mediocre Kristof Vliegen of Belgium last week highlights how easily exposed he can be when he steps up in grade. It's because he lacks that natural ability and is heavily reliant on his big serve and guys between 100 and 200 can get it back and force him to play the extra ball which often is his undoing. When watching him go down in straight sets to Lopez at Wimbledon in 2007 his lack of quality was very apparent. Therefore despite his efforts I fail to see him breaking the top 150 if I'm brutally honest although I very much hope I'll be proved wrong.
 
Then when you have a glance further down the rankings it's worrying. A couple of years ago the 30th ranked male in Britain was standing at around 890, and now it is well down at 1200ish. Our 30th ranked player then would now be our 20th ranked player now so that isn't exactly encouraging, and doesn't shown any signs of progressing either. Seems to be a common misconception that men's tennis and the depth of it is improving, as the harsh reality is that it's getting worse. Richard Bloomfield is fourth on the list at 290. I admire him for plugging away but again he lacks the class to go any further. Personally I feel the only hope of the next British man to break the 150 mark in the next two to three years comes from either Jamie Baker or James Ward. We have a crop of four youngsters ranked between 293 and 399 in Slabinsky, Eaton, Ward and Baker. I thought it was absurd that people were asking the question into why Eaton wasn't picked for Davis cup on grass at home. It was an incredibly simplistic view as his results have been very poor. Just because he beat an average tanking South American clay courter on a grass court in the first round at Wimbledon it means he should be picked for Davis cup despite not reaching a quarter final of any futures event since? Eaton has a good serve and a decent volley but nothing more. He was totally exposed against Tursunov in the second round and wasn't ever going to be the answer at Davis cup level.
 
Jamie Baker has had troubles with illnesses and injuries of late but is now back playing so hopefully he can surge up the rankings. However using the word 'surge' with Jamie Baker is probably the wrong term. He is a grafter and someone who will plug away and not achieve immediate success as he doesn't have the ability of say an Andy Murray to surge up the rankings. It will be a slow process so I hope that he won't be held back by more bad luck as it really hampers his aspirations. Unlike most who are brought up training in this country, he has a real doggedness about him and is incredibly dedicated. Apparently when he was 14 when training in academies he would stay on court longer than the other players to work on his fitness after sessions so hopefully he will be rewarded by breaking the top 100 one day. James Ward is another who has a great attitude who has showed some promising results on the futures tour (losing in a final last week in Spain). When watching him go down narrowly to Safin at Queens 6-4 in the third set it was encouraging to see a Brit who wasn't overawed by the occasion and who actually believed he could win that match against a double grand slam champion. His flattish ground strokes should be suited by the quick surfaces such as grass. However as he's been out training in Spain alongside his friend Juan Carlos Ferrero he's obviously going to be very adaptable on the clay as well. I really think he has the most ability out of the four and along with Baker they are the next hopes to step in at that number two spot in Davis cup, hopefully sooner rather than later.
 
However it's not all negative in British tennis. On the more positive side of things, the women are progressing nicely mainly in the form of 14 year old starlet Laura Robson. Born in Melbourne she has the complete game to go all the way to the top. People may think it's too early to tell but I don't think she's too far off breaking the top 100 once she has completed a full season of tennis in the senior game. She dispatched 2007 junior Wimbledon winner Ursula Radwanska and the veteran Obziler (who are both close to the top 100 ) with ease in Shrewsbury last week before going down in three sets to Ani of Estonia. I reckon with a bit more match experience and physical development she'll be beating the girls ranked between 50 and 100 convincingly and that there is no reason why she can't reach the top 10 one day. She has the full game so maybe Britain will be incredibly strong in the Hopman cup!
 
Britain have been drawn against Ukraine in the Davis cup at home. On paper people will assume we can't surely lose that but when you look further into it Ukraine do have a realistic shot of winning. Who knows if Andy Murray will turn out and if not they will be favourites in my eyes. If he does play then it's still not over as it will probably come down to the doubles rubber again. Stakhovsky has a big game and has managed to pick up an ATP title this year and they also have a fast improving teenager in Dolgopolov. He won some notable matches in a challenger this week so watch out if Britain are again ridiculously under priced as per usual in Davis cup at home against teams we're expected to beat!