ANGRY MURRAY

Davis Cup just papers over cracks in our game Talking to British tennis chief is waste of my time

ANDY MURRAY yesterday led Great Britain’s winning Davis Cup team once again — in launching a stinging critique of the Lawn Tennis Association.

The world No 2 said he felt it was almost futile to even discuss policies with chief executive Michael Downey, and joined colleagues in targeting the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, widely considered a £40million white elephant.

Murray (below) also expressed fears about the lack of top- class junior talent and questioned whether the right measures were being taken to nurture the grass roots.

Of his brief encounters with Downey, he said: ‘Sometimes I feel a bit like you waste time because nothing gets done, so I also don’t want to waste my time talking about stuff.

‘I’d rather concentrate on my own stuff and when I’ve finished playing I’ll have a lot more time to try to help or give back to the game.’

He spoke of his shock at finding the indoor courts at the NTC empty on a rare visit in October, and his views were broadly echoed by his brother

Jamie and team-mate Kyle Edmund. He said: ‘There is nobody to train with and nobody to practise with, which is frustrating because you want the best possible preparation for the big events and we don’t have that.’ Grass roots expansion plans were not spared either by Murray, who cares passionately about British tennis. He said: ‘There are a few people who I am close to and respect their opinions on it. They believe a lot more could be done and should be done to capitalise on all of this success in British tennis over the last five or six years.’ Captain Leon Smith lamented that in the last eight years £25m had been invested in junior tennis programmes with no tangible return.