Watson fury at rapid Brexit
HEATHER HITS OUT AT LTA
Aquarter of a billion pounds has flowed into the coffers of British tennis from Wimbledon alone in the past seven years, and yet we still get weeks like this.
the 2013 French Open was the last time no GB singles player made it to the second round of a Grand Slam, and you might have hoped that this kind of history would not repeat itself.
Late yesterday afternoon, under grey skies at roland Garros, it happened again as a definitive Brexit was made with the departure of Heather Watson. the 28-year-old made it six out of six first-round losers after going down 7-6, 6-3 to France’s Fiona Ferro. She then delivered a withering critique of the situation presided over by the Lawn tennis association.
She believes that there are not enough youngsters coming through and that the Lta have to stop cherry-picking a small handful of those with promise and spread funding more widely.
‘What younger players? I don’t have anyone to talk about,’ she said when asked about future prospects. ‘as far as the next generation goes, Jo Konta is 29,
I’m 28 and Dan evans is 30. Cam Norrie is younger at 25 but, apart from that, I don’t really see who’s next or who’s going to be top 50.’
Watson was damning of the Lta’s current academy programme, a recently reheated idea from the 80s and 90s.
‘I think that more players need to get help rather than just selected players,’ she said. ‘there needs to be a bigger pool of support. that way you’re not spoiled and not given everything at a young age.
‘You don’t know who’s going to make it. You have your talented people, but you also have your hard workers, those that are dedicated, ask all the questions. It’s not just the talented people that get through.’
She would be reluctant to step into the world of the governing body when she retires.
‘I wouldn’t want to get involved because of the politics,’ she said. ‘I don’t think my voice would be heard anyway.’
It has been a strange Grand Slam season with a giant Wimbledon-shaped hole in it. the best showing of any British player was that of the largely New Zealand-raised Norrie, who made the third round in New York.
Candidates for player of the year will be drawn instead from Wimbledon’s finance committee, who made the prescient decision to insure themselves against a pandemic.
this means that the Lta will get another annual handout north of £30million, although the question remains, as ever, how much use they will make of it.
Meanwhile, controversy flared on the main court of roland Garros yesterday in the match between France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Germany’s Laura Siegemund.
Mladenovic had set point at 5-1 in the first set when her opponent scooped up a shot that had clearly bounced twice, only for the umpire to allow play to continue.
the French player lost the point and went on to concede the next six games, and then the match — 7-5, 6-3.