sport news The LTA needs to justify its £20MILLION wage bill as Brits are beginning to ... trends now
Beyond the personal disappointment for Cam Norrie in his French Open defeat late on Friday night lay a sobering reminder for the domestic game.
A total of four singles wins were managed by players from across the channel in Paris before they reach the respite of the grass court season, which opens on Monday in the very British tennis setting of suburban Surbiton.
Responsible for half the victories at Roland Garros was Norrie, the durable left-hander of UK parentage whose development took place mainly in New Zealand and the US college system. Just two sprung from those who have wholly emerged from England, in the shape of Dan Evans and Emma Raducanu.
Emma Raducanu has lost in the second round of the French and the Australian Open in 2022
This does not sit easily alongside the latest financial report of the Lawn Tennis Association, which again reveals the sheer size of its operation and financial resources that would have most other nations looking on in slack- jawed envy.
According to the latest figures the LTA is employing 312 people, marginally down from 328 the previous year. However, annual salary costs have broken through the £20million mark for the first time, up by £1.2 m. That is before taking into account such things as public relations consultants.
This swallows up roughly half the annual surplus dispensed from the Wimbledon Championships, which will sail on creating enormous profits regardless of any tone deaf retaliations within the game to the banning of Russian players.
Britain's Cam Norrie crashed out of the French Open in the third round by Karen Khachanov
The coming period is also when the most scrutiny is on the elite performance of the British game, which appears to be holding on reasonably well to the pandemic-led upturn in grass roots participation.
Fortunately for the LTA the next six weeks plays out on grass, a surface that naturally favours the majority of homegrown players while being viewed with distrust by some of their international competitors.
Amid all the controversy over the decision to strip Wimbledon of
