Wednesday, June 25, 2003

NEW BALLS, PLEASE

So a great day for British Tennis yesterday as Tim Henman breezed through the first round against the 154th ranked player in the world? Or another pathetic display by the host country as all British women fall at the first hurdle?

Why are we Brits so poor at tennis? Why do countries like Belgium, Belarus and Ecuador produce better players? Should we care?

Let's take the last question first. Of course we should care. Like it or not, sport or at least spectator sport is part of our culture. We like to cheer on the home players. Why shouldn't we? Okay, when they get knocked out, we can cheer other competitors and marvel at their skills. It's all part of the famous and mythical English sense of fairness.

We should also care because our professional sports people are a reflection on the general fitness of the rest of us. We are becoming a sedentry people. We are not unique in this, but interestingly there are reports this week that obesity is more prevalent in the UK than anywhere else in Europe.

Why do other countries do better? Difficult to say. There are a number of possible reasons: better training and coaching, better facilities, identifying talent at an early age. And, what about the elitism of tennis? There is a provocative article by Martin Jacques in today's Guardian about racism in tennis and all sport. Jacques goes a bit over the top at the end and ignores the French anti-American feelings in his bit about the Williams' sisters, but the plain truth is that tennis is still an elitist sport. Good facilities and coaching goes with money. That is not always the case with other sports, particularly team sports. Football clubs, for example, throw the net very wide to attract the best talent. Gone are the days when Everton, for example refused to scout black players.

Childs is losing this afternoon and Rusedski (he's Canadian anyway) is up against the new favourite. Let's see what happens, but the tournament is likely to be down to one Brit by the fourth day.

:: Posted by pete @ 12:28