I’m all right, says Jack

CONSPICIOUS by his absence from Wimbledon on Saturday was former Lawn tennis association chief executive Roger Draper, considering his son Jack was making his debut in the boys’ singles, losing in straight sets to Chinese no 2 seed Yibing Wu. Jack said: ‘My father played a big part in my tennis life. now I have other people around me.’

the highly promising 15-year- old trains at former Lta performance director David Felgate’s Chiswick academy and works with Ryan Jones, who used to be Kyle Edmund’s coach. Jack also has access to Lta strength and conditioning coaches. Draper Snr is chief commercial officer at the Rugby Football League and knows all the dangers of parents becoming too involved.

THE bounce from a successful Wimbledon for British players is in danger of being lost because of the chronic void in leadership at the Lawn Tennis Association. Roehampton is in a state of flux with recently departed chief executive Michael Downey having been a lame-duck leader for his last six months in office, while his successor Scott Lloyd is unable to start work until January, although he did attend an LTA volunteers awards function last week. An LTA spokesman said it was business as usual, with a seven-strong executive reporting to the board.

NO wonder sports management giants IMG are a declining force in tennis when their agents are as rude and unhelpful as american Gary Swain, who looks after John McEnroe. Swain did not wait to hear the question before hanging up on your Sports Agenda columnist, even though he knew the enquiry was a sensitive medical one about the poor health of McEnroe’s mother Kay.