Creative Differences.

"Todd is a fantastic person," said Djokovic. "He has so much experience and was willing to share everything with me. There are no hard feelings but we just decided it was not working. It was probably a question of understanding what kind of person I am."

…

"At the ATP Finals in London my shoulder was tired and the body automatically started to make adjustments because of that," Djokovic explained. "Then we tried a slightly different action and it all got very complicated. So now I am just going back to my original action."

-- Fox News

I’m sure Todd is a very nice person too. But that’s a very telling comment on understanding the kind of person Djoko is.

So what was it? Tactical disputes? Personality issues? A culture clash? Too many cooks? Creative Differences even?

The culture clash theory is the one that’s been most widely pored over, with suggestions of Todd’s somewhat milder temperament being at odds with Djoko’s “outwardly cocky and self-confident” personality.

That’s hardly news, is it? Even less impressed with the reductive image of the “emotional European” – especially as Marion Vajda (who I’m rather a fan of) strikes me as one of the most composed coaches on tour.

It is, however, of some relief to know that that horrendous javelin-throwing service action wasn’t simply a figment of my imagination – can’t say I’m sorry to see it go.

The most obvious questions on the appointment of the relatively unknown Leon Smith as Davis Cup Captain revolve on the extraordinary lengths the LTA seem to have gone in order to placate Andy Murray.

Andy and Greg, you’ll remember, are not the best of friends.

"When Roger Draper came into the LTA it was all about a world-class leadership team, world-class people and this is it; four years down the track we are putting someone in charge of the men's game and the Davis Cup who has none of these qualities," he [Mark Petchey] told Sky Sports.

"So are we saying the strategy before was wrong and now we're on the right one, or are we actually saying we don't have a clue and are sticking somebody in the job who we think might persuade Andy Murray to play Davis Cup?

"Andy will make his own decision and I know Andy, he was happy to go with the majority view of what the players wanted in terms of a Davis Cup captain - and the majority of those players wanted Greg Rusedski."

-- Sky Sports

Were the presence of Andy Murray not absolutely essential to Team GB’s future success, you could almost argue that this reeks of a mild strain of nepotism.

Why should national strategy be predicated on the say-so of any one player (however celebrated)?

Why should he be able naysay the appointment of someone the rest of the players have approved and seem to respect?

Not that that’s remotely close to what I think is happening here.

Call me naive, but haven’t people always had to knuckle down alongside those they wouldn’t normally share a drink with, not just in tennis but in almost all professional walks of life?

However much he may dislike Rusedksi, Murray’s objections to Davis Cup seem to me to have rather more to do with with wanting to focus on winning Slams.

What if despite these attempts at appeasement (if that’s what they are), he still doesn’t turn up to play?

"Leon's my friend, but I need to still do what's right for me," said Murray.

"If I want to play, I'm playing for the team, it's not that I'm playing because Leon's the captain.

"I hope that was not the reason why he became captain. I don't think that's the way to make a decision on something as big as this.”

-- BBC Tennis

Oops.

***

There’s an elephant in the room.

The media have been astonishingly muted about it, but let that not deceive us.

With what we know of Rafa’s form (and knee), the usual tally of clay court titles remains an uncertainty. And that spells trouble.

It’s not that an early loss at any of the upcoming events would be entirely catastrophic – for all we know it might be exactly what he needs – more that it would alter the landscape in a way that might not be reversible.

Still not completely sure what I mean by that, so I’ll say no more.

Never has the clay season been more or less about Rafa.

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Demonic Numerology, Hydras and ‘Inglourious Basterds’

Having been downed 3-2 by Lithuania (a country with only three world ranked players, only one of which is inside the top 500) the Brits now face a precarious face-off with Turkey in July to avoid tumbling into the bacteria-infested swamplands of Euro-Africa Zone Group 2 – the bargain-less basement of Davis Cup Competition.

With not a goat amongst them to help mitigate against the fall.

It ain’t pretty down there.

The press quite predictably showed no mercy. Why would they?

It is one of the most humiliating moments we have ever suffered. The ecstatic Lithuanians are dancing up and down on the corpse of British tennis.

20 years ago, Lithuania were not recognised as a tennis playing nation, but Britain has lost to a team of teenagers.

-- The Times

The wreckage was not of broken bottles or body parts, the stench not of alcohol poisoning, but British tennis had effectively been stripped bare, roped to a tree and beaten with branches.

Defeat to Lithuania had been total humiliation. At least the bosses admitted so. "It's like being in a very bad dream," LTA chief executive Roger Draper told BBC Sport. "Along with lots of other British tennis fans [we are] sharing the humiliation of losing to Lithuania."

-- Jonathan Overend, BBC

It’s not often you see such a deliberately sadistic tinge applied to the metaphors crafted by the British Press.

With these descriptive diatribes involving corpses, flagellation and broken bottles, one wonders about the passages that never made it into print on the grounds of good taste.

One might easily imagine descriptions of gang rape and necrophilia.

They want blood, you see.

This panto, that’s seen the Nation’s Press in the role of Grand Inquisitor, rousing up the masses against tennis’s powers that be, who for the time being remain nestled away in an ivy clad tower with an SW15 postcode, has something like the French Revolution about it.

It's also beginning to feel like it’s run it’s course.

My guess is heads will roll this time round. As they ought to have a long time ago.

Except John Lloyd’s need not be amongst them

Despite his future as DC Captain now in the balance, he has somewhat tastefully, been spared the worst of the wrath and vitriol, with commentators once again calling for all nine heads of the Hydra, otherwise known as the LTA, to be neatly severed.

Preferably in one clean sweep.

The only people who should have been saying sorry were those who have lived very nicely thank you while the game in Britain has fallen into unacceptable disrepair.

…

What is it about these [Lithuanian] players, what have they got that ours have not? Hunger? Desire? Talent? Spirit? The present LTA regime has had enough time to find the answers and they have palpably failed, so they should depart.

-- The Times

Whip? Meet Dead Horse – Dead Horse? Cat o’nine tails.

Spraying Myla Rose coloured poo at the LTA seems both an overly-worn and suspiciously knee-jerk reaction.

I don’t want to be an Inglourious Basterd about this, but it’s difficult to see where else (if anywhere) the buck should stop.

You can hardly blame John Lloyd even though he’ll now likely be forever remembered as the only British Captain to preside over five consecutive losses (that and being the one time beau of Chris Evert).

Nor as the Muzz-Haters would have it, does Murray have anything to answer for in this torrid affair. It was his involvement (with an injured wrist) after all in the relegation play-off against Poland last year, that handed us one our rare live rubber wins.

I certainly don’t blame the players.

James Ward made history this weekend by becoming only the fourth player in the last thirteen years to win a live Davis Cup Rubber, and 19-year old Dan Evans left everything (including his bloodied pulsating heart) out on court despite coming up short in two five setters, in the latter of which the play of his 18 year old Lithuanian opponent Laurynas Grigelis left the The Times wondering “what British teenager ranked outside the world’s top 500 could possibly have performed with such maturity?”

Dare I utter the word that dare not speak its name? At least not here in the UK.

Depth.

Men’s tennis, as we are regularly told, has bucket-loads of it right now.

Here in the UK we like to mostly keep quiet about it.

It’s like one of those noteworthy examples of insularity when a worldwide phenomenon completely passes you by. Like say, China and the Credit Crunch, only the other way round and with significantly less yield per capita.

Britain may have talent, it’s just that Spain and France have a whole lot more. Sacking John Lloyd won’t change any of that.

With a budget of £59.7m for 2009, which included £25m for high performance player development, the LTA expenditure dwarfs that of the LTU, which had a budget of around £90,000.

-- BBC

You do the math. Oh alright I will. Even if we restrict our comparison to the amount of money put aside for “high performance development”, the numbers make grim reading: 27700% more grim.

Comparing both nations’ total budgets yields a figure of approximately 66600%.

Numerology both ironic and demonic as you’re ever likely to see.

Contenders for greater mass mis-expenditure? Sir John Chilcott, certainly has his work cut out this week.

I’ve never believed in laying blame solely at a manager or team captain’s door in any sport, however results driven it might be.

In this particular case, the failures appear to be more suggestive of a far reaching institutionalised and systemic disorder that has resulted in an inability to produce players capable of holding their own on the world stage, much less winning big budget events.

Greg Rusedski is rumoured to be lined up to pick up the pieces, though it’s difficult to see what change, if any, he can bring.

Well-placed sources confirmed to The Times last night that he had been sounded out. On his Twitter feed, Rusedski described the defeat as “unbelievable”.

He would be an intriguing choice, not least because he would be the first non-British-born captain since Warren Jacques, the Australian, was appointed in the late 1980s.

Rusedski has made no secret of the fact that he would love to do the job, but how that appointment goes down with Murray, whom the LTA needs to keep sweet, could be the determining factor.

-- The Times

After Pete Bodo’s “well placed sources” left him with more of those organically certified speckled quails eggs on his face over the likelihood of Federer’s presence (or otherwsie) at Indian Wells this week, I’m taking every dish I’m served with a generous sprinkling of sodium bicarbonate.

I’m rarely in agreement with much of what gets made of Murray’s ‘gruff’ disposition, especially as it gives rise to a nasty divisive Anglo-Scot sentiment we could frankly do without. That said though, when was he ever considered “sweet” about anything?

Whatever the case, it really doesn’t sound like they’re the best of friends.

Going into the WTF in London at the end of last year, Greg Rusedski and Barry Cowan were amongst the many voices alerting Murray to the need to raise the levels of aggression present in his game:

"Yeah, who are these 'experts'?" Murray asked, rhetorically. "Barry Cowan? Greg Rusedski? I think I know more about tennis than Barry and Greg. I work very hard with my coaching team to come out with the right game-plan. I've been told a lot of times that I'm very astute.

--The Telegraph

This, from early 2009, when (short-lived) rumours were raised of a potential comeback from Greg at the age of thirty five, to represent the UK at Davis Cup:

Murray has remained extremely polite in public, limiting himself to saying that when he retires he will stay retired. Behind the scenes he is said to have made it clear that if Rusedski were ever to be considered for a recall then the LTA could forget about him playing. End of story.

--The Guardian

End of story for him maybe. But I suspect this saga has another chapter or two to go.

***

Word just out: David (rather than John) Lloyd calling for Roger Draper to walk.

I can’t watch. *Averts eyes*

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Justine's new service motion and other factoids...

(Correctional) Factoid #1: Contrary to what I said yesterday, Justine's ambitions at Wimbledon are, according to Carlos Rodriguez, "one of the main reasons she's come back".

Yeah, my 'Grand' Wimby insight was neither that grand, nor that insightful after all.

Factoid #2: Justine will be unveiling a new fangled service motion in Melbourne - one from which she expects to yield a first serve percentage of at least 70%.

I'm not sure about putting all this stock into her first serve. Such an over emphasis on one part of an otherwise complete game seems overkill if you ask me.

Her first serve was problematic at times, but nothing nearing Safinaean or Ivanovician proportions; and besides haven't we been down this road four times already? I'm pretty sure I've seen her run the complete gamut of abbreviated pronations in her first career. So what's so different this time round?

Factoid #3: Justine intends to play until the Olympics in 2012.

I like how London 2012 is fast acquiring the feel of an inaugural event to honour and generally festoon some of the best players we've ever had.

Already we've had indications from Federer and Venus Williams that they intend to stick around till then, and now Justine's signed up too.

But just what kind of a nihilistic tennis vaccum will we exist in, in the immediate aftermath of the event? Be afraid.

(Non-Justine) Factoid #4: Spain have drawn Switzerland in their opening Davis Cup tie next year.

Yes that means we may see Rafa battle Roger in a more patriotically coloured setting. I hope I'm wrong, but I still don't see Federer committing to such emotional consumption a week before Indian Wells.

(Photo: Reuters)

UPDATE:

"I truly enjoy playing for my country but I'll also have to see where I have my priorities for next season," Federer said after victory over Italy.

But who knows? Davis Cup is certainly more of a gaping hole on his CV than any mere Masters event. Fifth Slam or otherwise.

(Non-Justine) Factoid #5: Here's something you can bet the house on though: Andy Murray will not be travelling to Lithuania that weekend.

After last weekends shoddiness, the gist of the deal, buried away beneath all the layers of controversy, appears to be that it's time the lower ranked Brits stepped up.

In a strange way the environment of the lower tier might prove a more fruitful testing ground, and may even turn them into something of a more seasoned group capable of holding their own in any future ties.

Which in a not so strange way I kinda agree with.


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What were you doing at 18?

Here's a curious stat. Britain's Dan Evans, the world #325 (and British #5), holds the honour of being the highest ranked 18 year old in the ATP.

As great as this is for the Brits, I'm not sure what it says about the quality of the younger talent coming through. Probably not very much. Slower, measured and more systematic development being the preferred approach nowadays; and you don't get a Becker, Nadal, Hingis or even a Tracy Austin type emerging everyday.

It's just -- and I may have this all wrong -- I've always thought the headcount of high ranking 18-19 year olds to be a lot greater than that; and by 'high ranking' I mean in the very modest 150-225 region.

Some recent examples. At 18, Gael Monfils finished 2004 ranked #239. Richard Gasquet #107. Andy Murray finished 2005 ranked #64.

The women? At 18, Dinara Safina, top 50 (2004). Svetlana Kuznetsova, top 50 (2003). Sania Mirza finished 2005 (aged 19) at #31.

I've tried not to pick Williamses and Nadal type super-starlets, and even my selection is essentially comprised of wunderkinds, but the picture presented is obvious, no?
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Mark Petchey on 'Show Me the Money'...

After yesterday's post on the bleak state of British Tennis and 2Hander's followup assessment (one which I largely agree with), I thought it would be worth sharing this article by Mark Petchey, as he seems to share our frustration and suggests more 'out of the box' ways at how we might improve things. He also includes a fascinating breakdown of how the LTA choses to channel the whopping £37.1 million it received from Wimbledon - literally showing us (in no uncertain terms) the money!

GB's inability to produce quality players capable of competing at the higher levels of the game, is a source of great frustration to most British tennis lovers as the LTA, whatever else you may think about it, does not want for cash. Yet they continue to pour money into initiatives which ultimately only benefit the well off.

Like Petchey, I don't blame the British players, though I was a little incensed to learn that a player ranked outside of the top 200 can command funding of up to £50k - correct me if I'm wrong, but that's more than the total prize money on offer at some of the lower level ATP events! I wonder what Ana (suddenly those images of her bashing double handers in an emptied out swimming pool seem less cheesy), Novak and countless others that have risen in the rankings these last few years would have to say about that!

So what's gone wrong Petchey?

Too much of this money is spent in areas where it isn't helping build tennis courts, subsidise coaching, putting rackets in the hands of kids and growing the sport from the bottom up.

I don't want to put too fine a point on this, hence the somewhat clumsy bold type face of the points I strongly agree with. In fact we couldn't agree more if we tried. I grew up playing on cement Tennis Courts at my local Park, and although there were one or two cracks with grass growing in between it (and one rather large mole hill!) was a little lucky that for a good few years they were well maintained and accessible price wise. Not so many children had that type of access up and down the country.

The point he makes that stands out for me most is that of subsidised coaching. I saw so much talent and love for the game during those years in my early teens, that I can't help but wonder what might have been had they had access to quality regular coaching sessions. But coaching, along with many other initiatives was (and for the most part continues to be) invariably tied to Club participation - which is simply beyond the reach of most families.

The time has come to disband the LTA in its present structure. In its place should be a group of about eight people who decide how best the money should be spent. In this group I would like to see Tim Henman, David Lloyd and Judy Murray. Not all the services and departments can be discarded, but the cost saving would be immense and would allow substantial investment in grassroots tennis.

Now you're talking Petchey - though I never had you down as a revolutionary! That could almost be construed as fighting talk (!), though it's interesting you chose to include Tim Henman (and not Greg Rusedski who already has a talent spotting role) in your elite band of mercenaries. Not that I don't think he would add something useful to the money spending debate, it's just I don't think he's ever said he wants a role like that either within or outside of the LTA.

The substantial reduction in the cost to parents because of the investment in clubs would ensure a healthy flow of players taking up the game and staying in it. We simply have too few players. The reason is that tennis is still too expensive and for many parents it becomes a labour of love.

A point we've already made and that can't be stressed enough.
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Show Me The Money...

It's not often I write about British Tennis. On the men's side, outside of Murray, there's not much to get enthralled about frankly and that's being kind. I'll spare you the details of the carnage this weekend.

Imagine if you will, the gulf between Federer playing like he was at say, the beginning of 2007 and the best performing Futures Circuit Player, and you'll have some idea of the gaping chasm separating Murray from the rest of the Brits.

There have been a lot of initiatives to improve this state of affairs ever since Roger Draper took charge at the LTA in 2006. Even before it became clear that Murray would be unable to play this weekends Davis Cup tie, Team Captain John Lloyd had the other players take part in a play off of sorts to decide who takes the other singles spot, instead of simply handing them out.

I'm all for players 'earning their place' in this way; it'd be different if we had even one other player in the top 100, but as it stands no one merits being selected based on form - show me the money, I say.

This summary by Jonathan Overend at the BBC explains some of the improvement initiatives underway, and makes a good point re some of the players' earnings.

Take for example the more accountable approach to funding:

The latest plan is to put all the professional players on contracts to introduce more accountability and more accurately assess their progress, or lack of it. Thirty-six players have been given places on "Team AEGON" and the one-year contracts set out the expectations, tailored specifically to the individual players.

Ranking targets are evaluated every six months and physical fitness targets are assessed every three months. Some contracts require players to up their first-serve percentage while others demand greater endurance in matches. They really are that specific.

In return, the player receives funding - of up to £48,000 in some cases - to pay for coaches and travel expenses. If targets are not met, players can expect their funding to be cut or - in extreme cases - withdrawn completely.

"We are there for the players," said Steven Martens, LTA player director, "but we are not a social security system."

All well and good, but get this:

Certain British players, with rankings possibly outside the world's top 200, can expect central funding of more than £20,000 - £6,000 appearance fee for Davis Cup ties (possibly two a year), an extra £10,000 if they get a Wimbledon wild card (even for a first-round defeat), and another couple of grand for wild cards into other grass-court tournaments.

That's approaching £50,000 even before you start adding prize money from the other tournaments and outside sponsorship.

Obviously there are sizeable expenses to deduct, life as a tennis pro is a costly business, but does such generosity encourage the necessary toughness to grind out wins when the going gets tough?

British players have everything they could wish for - a wonderful practice facility in Roehampton, access to some reputable coaches, a state-of-the-art medical and fitness department, and a fat cheque from the governing body.

Perhaps one day someone will take the radical step of scrapping the support and send players out on their own with nothing but an air ticket. Would that produce the "warriors" Draper wants to create?

Indeed. Since when does a ranking outside of the top 200 merit funding approaching £50K? And more importantly how do you expect to foster Champions with this molly-coddling? Read More...

Tennis from 'Another World'...

So it seems A-Rod's Dubai withdrawal this week is a protest pull-out after all. I did wonder about this, as I found the news of his absence a little surprising. I know he's had a decent enough start to the year, but also thought there was something particularly galvanising about returning to Dubai as defending champion (an event where he beat both Nadal and Djoko) - something to draw upon in preparation for Indian Wells. Still, his other mini triumphs will mean the points he'll lose shouldn't hurt him.

His success continued this week as he made the finals in Memphis. Wanna know who else is having a good year? Radek 'The Necromancer' Stepanek, that's who. I suspected he might have been dabbling in the Dark Arts after his success in Brisbane (his dance routines have always been a little too unearthly for me) ; but his continued success in reaching the final here and that recent title in San Jose , leave little doubt in my mind that Radek is in league with forces not entirely of this world. Andy's big serve may not be enough...

In other not so recent news, Jamie Murray has been dropped from the British Davis Cup Doubles Team in favour of Ross Hutchins; and has evidently taken up Rugby and garish tatoos in an effort to ease the blow.
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A Different Type of Backhand...

I was about to ignore this one, but it just won't go away.

Murray's backhands can sometimes be a little too curt and brash for some, but is this time I fear, right on the money.

It's a sorry state of affairs when a retired 35 year old (who can still do some serious damage with his serve it has to be said) represents a plausible choice for your next Davis Cup fixture.

But what is Greg thinking in testing the waters with the lower level ATP events? Proving his mettle for possible reconsideration by John Lloyd?

Do whatever it normally takes to get this mid life crisis out of your system Greg - I believe the usual protocol involves buying a fast car. Then move on.
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A Very International Affair...

This last week all the publicity seems to be over Davis Cup so lets get that out of the way to begin with.
Let me state right out that historically I haven't been a great fan of Davis Cup. To me it always seemed to be operating at a level below the main tour - a poor relation of the premier ATP events.
Its detractors have various theories as to why this is the case, but even ardent fans sometimes agree that it can be difficult to muster up the same level of interest and passion without the involvement of the top players.
Still I'm beginning to be won over as we've had some very decent matchups this year - in particular France v US earlier in April and of course Spain v US this last weekend.

There was little doubt that Spain would win last weekend, but I was pleased to see competitive matches between Roddick and Ferrer and particularly between Querrey and Nadal - I mean most people probably wrote the guy off the second the draw was released. The fact that he was able to take a set off of Nadal in what must have seemed the most imbalanced of matchups (on clay against arguably the greatest clay courter of all time backed by a partisan Spanish crowd in a Madrid bullring - I mean Querrey must have thought 'Are you guys kidding with this setup!?') bodes well for his future.
He held his own and even though he lost the other sets, didn't appear to wilt.
Against Nadal, Roddick unfortunately got a dose of what Federer experienced at this years French Open Final - that he got the crowd on his side albeit for a fleeting moment (best moment of 2008?), was amongst the few positives that he could draw from this encounter.

I guess thats what rescues Davis Cup for me: the atmosphere. The crowd and the antics of the players' bench really do make this event something special, however I'm still not completely sold: for every matchup like last weekend we also have debacles like Great Britain v Austria - only Andy Murray's involvement in that fiasco prevented it from being a complete write off.
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