Wrong again Mr. Reed in both of ur predictions. It was­ Hewitt who overwhelmed Del Potro from the baseline­ & it was Flipkins that had too much for Baltacha.­ Your predictions have always been a jinx to the players­ who you think will win!! However, I totally agree with­ what u said about LTA, their strategy is not paying off

great post hatsuking cheers

M Reed said "Baltacha faces Kirsten Flipkens of­ Belgium in her second-round match, and I believe that­ she will be too good for her opponent." well­ well..she lose 5-7 1-6 Man you waist it again.

Really ?lol.........Just heard that he is ho-oking up­ with a nice gi-rl on the inter-esting cl-ub called:­ ____BigTallS COM____, really ? Sounds it is a famoaus­ on-line service.

and hey Mr. Reed, what is your prediction now? in form­ Hewitt beat Delpo in straight sets..

It does not matter because a book will be published­ soon called "Great British Tennis Players"­ which will make out that all is good and we are the­ best. We live in a dream world! The fact that we still­ hark back to the 1966 world cup proves my point!

I don't belong in this column, but saw a toe-hole­ when you mentioned the Williams sisters. As a USA­ American, I want to acknowledge that I've enjoyed­ following your comments here more that those in any­ other single Eurosport tennis column over the years.­ Finally, a group of people who care about tennis. Alex­ F. is absolutely correct about the Williams'­ parents determination to override the tony-tennis­ organizations in the USA to groom their brilliant­ daughters themselves...while across country almost­ simultaneously Andy Roddick, whose family was so poor­ they lived in a trailer, was spotted and picked up and­ immediately pruned-and-groomed for greatness. No need­ to guess why...that's still kind of the­ "American" way. And yet...all three of these­ players, though still very active top-ranking ones,­ support young people not only through personal coaching­ but also by setting up financial institutions that­ support free tennis programs for "all kids"­ to try their hands at tennis. USA American tennis had­ its heyday in the past with the wealthy­ "Crissy"wonders and "Mac" Stanford­ crowd, but seems almost dormant currently (except for­ Harvard's Blake and the other-side-of-the-tracks­ Roddick and the Williams sisters). Your debate is­ encouraging and those of us across The Pond should­ learn from it also. Sorry for taking up so much space,­ ralph r. Cheers!

Tennis happens not to be inclusive. Our state primary­ schools have no facilities and tennis happens to be­ omitted from the curriculum. LTA should invest in­ schools at an early age in order to find a champion.­ Let us get rid of those highly paid LTA officers and­ coaches. As for funding current crop of young players I­ would like them to succeed before all the money is­ dished out to them. They must work hard and wild cards­ ought to be stopped. They must qualify for Wimbledon­ like all the others who are not in the top 100.

sanchez.santos
A plain Cameron will do thank you, for­ that is my Christian name.
Yes i know the problem is­ far reaching than Mr. Bogdanovich, i merely highlighted­ him as one of the many examples of how it is going­ wrong. Come on, £78,000 for turning up once a year at­ Wimbledon; wildcard entrants should not receive­ anything for losing in the First Round (apart from­ expenses, touchy subject i know!!!); they should be­ thankful for the opportunity to participate in such a­ prestigous event and take the supposedly learning­ experience as reward enough!
I do contribute to­ funding by the way, pennys granted, but i still­ contribute nonetheless!
Oh, and no offence was taken; i­ do appreciate your feedback (as always).

Why is Mr Reed surprised that Dulko bt maria Sharapova?­ he writes sports column but not actually watching­ events. He should know that Maria has personality­ problem recently as her form is not returning to the­ big hitting days forced upon herself to emulate the big­ hitting williamses. Not with her surgery and ongoing­ fitness is she expected back to the stage again. Age is­ telling on her and more growth is dwindling her­ potential. her movement is slow and to beat her you­ need to drop ball low and she hasn't that speed to­ cover. Dulko capitalised on her movements as this has­ always been her problem. hitting from baseline suits­ her but not as efficient before her surgery. This is­ what Reed should talk about not being surprised that­ DULKO who is fit as a feedle beat sharapova. She is­ just buying time to recupe her loses in the months she­ was absent. Maybe American high standard of living is­ telling on her finances. Better sell all and take the­ rest to Serberia

i am a club player at milnrow tennis club in rochdale­ and i play in the oldham/rochdale league and the­ manchester league. The amount of tennis clubs ceasing­ to exist is unbelieveable in the north manchester area,­ there are only four divisions left. whereas south­ manchester/cheshire leagues are thrieving and have­ eleven divisions. Has you all know south­ manchester/cheshire is a lot richer than its northern­ counterparts, whose parents can afford to take their­ children around the country for competitions and have­ private coaching, but these kids have no raw talent. ­ Look at the eastern europeans and look at how much they­ want to suceed to make a better life for themselves.

I heard that the only british players that are left are­ two scottish players is this true?.

big & quot

your absalutly correct, the rich and­ un-needy?? leave home and security without mummy and­ daddy's riches and home's in the deep south?­ having to fend for themselves be commpetative,­ aggresive, fit, dedicated when mummy say's now now­ its alright to come last it really doesn't matter­ if your a total w-----kr at the sport just keep taking­ the money and one day you'll be a stockbroker just­ like daddy and you can tell everyone what a total no­ hoper you were in your sport of riches and hand­ outs!.
LTA no chance, self made men and women are what­ we need in the game not @#$% no hopers with no­ aspirations or talent.

Has anybody interviewed Mrs Murray ( Andy's mother)­ ? She obviously had the right answer by sending her­ talented son, Andy to train in Spain outside the­ clutches of the LTA. Why not follow this example ? By­ all means have competitions to identify talented­ British youngsters and then award " tennis­ scholarships " for the best candidates to train­ overseas,all expenses paid by the LTA, eg Spain or USA­ in tennis camps where the competition is fierce. The­ LTA has plenty of money but has mis-used it to employ­ expensive coaches in a seond-rate UK tennis­ environment. Exposure to a more disciplined and­ competitive training programme is surely the way­ forward.

Where is Tim Hinman? I read that Solderings Coach at­ the just concluded Roland Garos was a player that was­ once a good player for the Swedish team he even played­ against Sampras or Agassi at the RG finals or Semis,­ take a look at Tsongas Coaching crews you will found­ out that they are past France players all there to­ support and cheap in one or two advice in the court not­ outside the court, where is Tim Hinman? Let me guess he­ is in the golf course, well who knows no one assisted­ him during his time, that might be his excuse, where­ are Britons past players, what are they doing, the­ American organize Tennis training schools am not­ surprised that players like Sharapova where all taught­ the game of tennis in America Vogel Stefanie of Sui was­ trained by Monica Seles, where are the past tennis­ players of Britain, let me guess they are into Cricket­ now or what golf. They all need to come out and do­ something about the growth of the game or else it’s­ growth will continue to be slow.

wandering hobo,

perhaps slightly basic but i fully­ understand just where your comming from and guess what?­ your 1000% right.

More money needs to be given to normal schools and­ normal areas so that normal children can pick up­ racquets and learn to play. Instead of throwing money­ all the time at football etc. why not give tennis a­ shot? For years only rich people have been able to pick­ it up (Henman) so why can't more people have access­ to the sport? That way, there is a bigger chance of­ more players getting to the top of the profession. As­ is the case in other countries, Spain, Russia etc who­ don't only focus on FOOTBALL and RUGBY *yawn*

I­ also think the LTA policy is in dissaray. Targetting­ certain players with potential is preposterous. How­ many other athletes with "potential" never­ make it as a profession? Also, the focus on youngsters­ is a joke aswell, LOADS of people and athletes do not­ peak until later in life, there are so many LATE­ BLOOMERS on tour to think of. Give MORE people a chance­ to play this wonderful sport, make it more ACCESSABLE­ to the general population and schools, THEN people will­ stop complaining about the select few players, and the­ pressure on current prospects will be relieved.

The problem with teenis in this country is that it like­ so many other sports is a snobs sport. it seems to be­ you get your place by how much mummy and daddy have­ financially or who mummy or daddy is humping sporting­ talent is found in the streets . not bank balances ans­ bedrooms

are you sure its your money mr­ cameron.......erm.....how much have you contributed­ exactly......or just a rough idea will do? this subject­ is not as simplistic as you have reduced it to......but­ hey, no offence.

The problem with teenis in this country is that it like­ so many other sports is a snobs sport. it seems to be­ you get your place by how much mummy and daddy have­ financially or who mummy or daddy is humping sporting­ talent is found in the streets . not bank balances ans­ bedrooms