Lloyd: under fire
It doesn't matter if Andy creates another million juniors to play the game, there are not enough courts in Britain by which you can train properly.
Mark Petchey
Quotes of the week
Also see
Skysports.com columnist Mark Petchey has called for the LTA to redirect funds into grass-roots tennis if Britain is to avoid further embarrassment on the world stage.
With Britain crashing to defeat against minnows Lithuania in the Davis Cup at the weekend, much criticism has been placed at the feet of the Lawn Tennis Association for not producing a generation of stars.
A shake-up within the system is now expected, but Petchey - a former British youth product himself - feels that the LTA's approach to the British game was never going to breed results.
"I think British tennis is in a pretty shocking state right now, I don't think there's any other way of looking at it," Petchey told Sky Sports News.
"I wrote an article a year ago about where it was going and the writing was on the wall then and the reality of the situation is that the defeat to Lithuania has just confirmed it.
"The money that's being spent at the top end of the game is astronomical. It's not getting into the grass roots and ever since the idea of a national tennis centre at Roehampton, I said this is going to be the biggest white elephant ever in British tennis.
"It's not John Lloyd's fault, it's not the players' fault, but fundamentally the system's fault for not being able to produce players and ultimately until we change it around then we'll just be throwing more money down the drain."
Bottleneck
Despite the supposed wider failings of the LTA's policy over the past few years, John Lloyd and his associates would no doubt point to the world-class talent of Andy Murray as some justification of their approach.
Many critics believe that a Grand Slam win for Murray will ultimately overshadow any shortcomings in the system by boosting interest in the game at its core.
However, even if Murray can triumph in the coming years, Petchey expects the infrastructure will again prove prohibitive for any inspired youngsters.
"A win for Murray will have a galvanising effect until the parents actually get out there and realise that they're going to hit a bottleneck because there aren't enough indoor courts," he added.
"Yes, it will create and ignite an interest in tennis, but the facilities and infrastructure haven't been built in the past 20 years.
"It doesn't matter if Andy creates another million juniors to play the game, there are not enough courts in Britain by which you can train properly."
