I had been wondering what to blog about for a couple of days now and it has suddenly struck me that Wimbledon has been going for a few days and I haven't said a word.

As I type Andy Murray is slowly hauling in a bald Croat called Ljubicic. It has not been plain sailing and it seems Murray not only has to beat the Croation chap but also himself. Looks like this 4th set might be the last. Famous last words.

It has been remarked how few top quality British players there are in the world. The reason for this is simple. Not enough Brits play tennis.

There is an adage that says greatness can come from any where but not everyone can be great. Then there is the one that says if you had an infinite number of Monkeys with typewriters you would eventually get the complete works of Shakespeare.

Hang on, I am not sure where I am going with this. Let me see.... if we get an infinite number typewriter trained monkeys playing tennis then someone will become great from nowhere!

OK so that doesn't make any sense. Nothing new there!

No! No, what I meant was that if we could get more, perhaps heaps of people playing tennis then we would more likely to come across the next Andy Murray in shorter time.
The problem with tennis is it's image in the UK. It is still largely perceived as sport played by posh people. It is still largely true but that doesn;s stop us being good at Golf, pony jumping, rowing etc. All largely inhabited by toffs.

Class struggle - right on

To it's credit the LTA of this country has been investing large amounts of it's profits in coaching staff. Which is admirable I suppose. Doesn't solve the problem of facilities.

The LTA would probably better off spending their money by selecting the best 11 year olds and paying for them and their families to live an school in Florida and Spain where all these other pro's learn their trade.

What the UK failed to notice 30 years ago (actually beyond that) when teenage stars started appearing that that was the way of the future. That the pro of tomorrow would have learnt almost everything by the time they were 17. They just had to get a bit stronger and and fitter.

We were still trying to take raw 17 year olds and turn them into greats and in truth they were just too far behind.