British tennis is wasting millions, says Ivanisevic

Jun 11 2008 by Richard Down, Liverpool Daily Post

Goran Ivanisevic at the Liverpool Tennis International at Calderstones park _320

A FORMER Wimbledon champion opened Liverpool International Tennis Tournament yesterday with a stinging attack on the state of the British game.

Goran Ivanisevic, the mercurial Croatian tennis legend, expressed his dismay at the lack of UK success ahead of his first match at Calderstones park in south Liverpool.

But he believes Andy Murray can go on and win this year’s Wimbledon title at the All England Club.

Murray once again bears the hopes of the nation on his young shoulders, taking on the mantle from Tim Henman. Ivanisevic argues this is a poor return for such a big country with huge resources.

He said: “He has a good chance this year, actually a very good chance. Grass courts are getting slower and slower and he likes this surface. It depends on the draw.”

However, he added: “The UK has too much money. There is £65m in the UK and they’ve had Tim Henman before and Andrew Murray now, but something has to be wrong in the system – Great Britain is a huge country.

“No-one can tell me there’s a lack of talent.

“In Croatia, there’s £200,000 of European funding compared to what is available here.

“Somebody must be doing something wrong.”

Underlining Ivanisevic’s point at yesterday’s opening was Ken Skupski, a 25-year-old Liverpool tennis player who only became professional 12 months ago.

The self-confessed “late bloomer” has rocketed more than 1,000 places in the ATP rankings, making him the most improved player in the world. But this begs the question: how many other undiscovered talents are there in Britain that are being overlooked?

He said: “In 30 years, we’ve only had two or three good players so we have to look at the problem.

“I’ve found it difficult this year because there’s a lot less tournaments in the country this year than in previous years. There were 30 or 40 in England in years gone by but now I’ve to travel far and wide to get my points up.

“Goran is right, there is a huge sum of money out there but not everyone gets it.

“LTA will fund certain players but I, for example, have a very limited budget. I pay for my own coach.”

While Skupski has had to wait until his mid-20s to taste success, the likes of Martina Hingis or Boris Becker were both winning Wimbledon in their teens.

Hingis, in fact, is one of the leg- ends joining Ivanisevic this week.

They are joined by the ever- popular Australian Pat Cash and Jana Novotna on a bill that also includes ageing Romanian maestro Ilie Nastase.

richarddown@dailypost.co.uk