Murray ‘doesn’t give enough back’
Lloyd’s damning verdict on Britain’s World No 2
ANDY MURRAY does not give enough back to the sport, while the Lawn Tennis Association has frittered away hundreds of millions without producing a single world-class talent.
That is the damning verdict of former Great Britain Davis Cup captain David Lloyd.
Murray, the world No 2, leads Great Britain in their Davis Cup final against Belgium this week despite security fears, but Lloyd has questioned his commitment to getting more youngsters into tennis.
‘The British players in recent years who have been good — Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski, Andy — they don’t in my opinion put enough back. They would say “Well, we’re winning this and winning that”. But I don’t mean that. I mean putting your heart and soul into it, a passion that is bigger than the person and even bigger than the game.
‘It’s about getting a kid who wants to play for Manchester United to want to play tennis instead. Andy is in such an incredible position with power to do that but he doesn’t. Tim is on the board of the LTA but he’s not out there grabbing people and that disappoints me.’
As well as being a successful businessman Lloyd, who made his money with a chain of leisure centres, runs coaching clinics and his own tennis academy which Henman attended as a nine-yearold. But he was highly critical of the LTA, who have received £1.14billion from the Wimbledon Championships since Britain were last in the Davis Cup final 37 years ago when David played alongside his brother John.
‘All these top players mask the failings, it is a pitiful organisation,’ said David. ‘They built a National Training Centre for £40million. That is my business, I’ve built lots of them. I know how much they cost and it’s maximum £10m, so where did the other £30m go?’
Lloyd also criticised the top players for not promoting the sport as well as they could.
‘I don’t think Andy does justice in presenting himself,’ said Lloyd. ‘I don’t think he goes out of his way to present the game. I only say things because I cannot believe we’ve been this unlucky
for a country which has the best tournament in the world, second wealthiest LTA in the world and we’re pitiful in standard.
‘If you have all those things laid out, cash, people, great examples but you’re at the bottom, something has to be wrong. It will stay like that for ever because people running it are scared of change.’
Murray needs to focus on the job in hand after a difficult week in London that ended in two defeats at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
It is hard to believe that his support team could have been happy with him taking the unprecedented step of asking them to sit out of sight during his defeat by Stan Wawrinka on Friday night.
It may be symptomatic of the pressure Murray is feeling ahead of the final. He said: ‘I had no idea what it was going to be like to win my first Grand Slam or Olympic gold or Wimbledon. I have no idea about a Davis Cup final because I haven’t experienced it before.
‘Obviously doing it with your team for your country, with my brother in the team, I would imagine it would mean loads to me. I have put a lot of effort into it this year — the whole team has.
‘I know it is going to be extremely tough, the turnaround is very quick and it is going to be far from easy.’