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Emma gives Team GB commitment

MIKE DICKSON Tennis Correspondent in Miami

EMMA rAdUCANU has assured British tennis bosses she will play in the Billie Jean King Cup in future, despite skipping next month’s qualifier against France.

Further down the sport’s food chain, however, there are more problems for the lawn Tennis Association, with the head of their flagship loughborough academy, Nick Cavaday, having quit.

raducanu said she intends to return to the GB fold once she has more consistent fitness. Aside from anything, she needs to be available in the next year to fulfil entry criteria for the Paris olympics.

‘I would love to play the Billie Jean King Cup, it’s just this scenario is not the best for my body. I really need to look after myself and do what’s best for me on the court,’ she said about missing the tie in Coventry on April 14-15. ‘I’d love to play the olympics.’

The fact that she is the only top-100 female singles player demonstrates how Britain continues to struggle to create any kind of elite production line. It has not taken long for the lTA’s expensive academy scheme to unravel, with major changes already being forced upon them nearly five years into a 10-year plan. The aim stated then was that British talent development would be the envy of the world by 2028.

of the two main academies, the one in Stirling is already being closed down. Now Cavaday is leaving its counterpart in the Midlands to pursue other coaching opportunities amid plans to expand its intake.

The lTA are looking not just for a new boys’ coach, but one for girls as well. Nearly five years after being launched by performance director Simon Timson — who less than two years later left for a job at Manchester City — there are few signs of any upsurge in the fortunes of GB juniors.

This wider situation has been largely camouflaged by two one-offs in raducanu and Jack draper, plus Andy Murray’s persistence and the rise of Cam Norrie, who was mostly honed overseas.

Quite why the lTA thought centralised UK academies, run and lavishly funded by the governing body, are the answer is a mystery. There is nothing in history to suggest they will create a pipeline of elite performers.

Unfortunately, and scarcely believably, there remains no one on the main board of the lTA with any experience of elite tennis.

of Cavaday’s departure, an lTA spokesperson said: ‘We wish him well and thank him for his important contribution to the academies’ development. To ensure continuity at loughborough we’re recruiting for a head of girls’ tennis and Morgan Phillips has been appointed interim head of boys’ tennis.’

Tennis

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2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

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