British play host, but not tennis, at Wimbledon
Half a million fans, hundreds of matches, $16 million in prize money, piles of strawberries and cream, the presence of royalty: When it comes to staging a world-class tennis championship, no one tops Britain.
But not when it comes to producing kings and queens of the court.
Britain has not toasted a Wimbledon singles winner, male or female, for decades. Year after year, partisan crowds rally noisily behind a great British hope, only to find themselves politely applauding an American, Australian, or European hoisting the championship trophy.
So as the annual fortnight at the All England Lawn Tennis Club begins Monday, the question remains: Why is Britain able to stage the world's most renowned tennis tournament but unable to find a player to win it?
For some, it's because of the country's poor facilities and unsympathetic weather. For others, tennis is still something of an elite sport here and many clubs do not reach out to the talent that may be lurking in poorer parts of the country. Still other clubs are simply more interested in putting on a refined social occasion than improving ground strokes.
The last British woman to win Wimbledon (Virginia Wade) did so before most of the current crop of players was born, in 1977. The last man to triumph here (Fred Perry) did so when men still wore long trousers, in 1936.
This year is unlikely to be different. No. 10 seed Tim Henman - the only British man competing for the singles title - is considered a long shot because of an injury. On the women's side it's even worse: not a single player is among the world's top 150.
The vast sums of money that Wimbledon generates are not translating into better British serves and volleys. Tournament profits are channeled through the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), to develop tennis in the country. Over the past six years, the LTA has reaped some $300 million.
But not everyone believes this is money well spent. "The LTA has failed miserably over the past 25 to 30 years," says John Lloyd, the last British man to reach a Grand Slam final - 26 years ago. "It's the biggest scandal in British sports. It's the second or third biggest association in terms of funding, and look how many top players it's produced. Basically zero."
Mr. Lloyd says that Wimbledon is part of the problem. Because of its superior reputation, he says, it puts a lot of less-privileged kids off playing the game "because they think it is out of their league."
Wimbledon tends to generate hysteria for two weeks and indifference thereafter. "There is more to tennis than the two weeks of Wimbledon," says tennis writer Chris Jones.
The LTA has adopted a two-pronged attack to revive the fortunes of British tennis. Initially it spent money on improving facilities, but Britain has only one-seventh of France's indoor courts.
The LTA has set about finding the players to play on them. Several schemes have been set up to get enthusiasts as young as 4. Currently 50,000 British children ages 4 to 10 swing the racket.
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