Is anyone for tennis?

We’Re approaching the time of year once again when everyone remembers there’s a sport called tennis and that we don’t have a decent British player apart from the brilliant and successful Andy Murray.

Why do we have only a handful of non-top ten players? The answer is simple: there are no tennis lessons in our secondary schools and local tennis clubs are struggling to survive.

I recently visited a prominent grammar school in Bexley where I saw six tennis courts with dilapidated nets and almost non-existent lines. Some pupils were playing football on them. This is pretty much the case in all the schools in this area and probably throughout the country.

I fell in love with tennis at 11 when I was given lessons at school and have been a member of five different clubs in 25 years.

The Lawn Tennis Association gets an annual subscription from every tennis club in the country, for each of its courts. What does it do with this money? Not a penny is ploughed back into the clubs. Money has to be raised by clubs to resurface courts, renew nets, buy equipment and pay coaches.

The Association makes a huge amount of money from the Wimbledon Championships. What do they do with it? We all know: it goes on the huge prize money given to top players who have already made vast sums of money from the sport.

A handful of clubs have been helped with Lottery grants, but the criteria to qualify for help are so difficult to meet, many clubs give up trying.

I challenge the Sports Minister and the Lawn Tennis Association to get together, improve the tennis courts and provide coaching to all schools in the country. They should be looking to support local tennis clubs in helping youngsters with free membership and coaching. Then we just might see some shining stars come through to join Andy, and maybe even surpass him. Mrs CHRISTINE CONNELL,

Longfield, Kent.