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John Inverdale talks to Roger Draper, LTA Chief Executive, about the Blueprint and the future of British tennis…

John Inverdale:
These are changing times for British tennis. Andy Murray is in the world's Top 20 with a new coach, Brad Gilbert. There is a new British Davis cup Captain, John Lloyd. And a new Blueprint is in operation for the future of the game in this country. But is this just another new initiative like all the ones that have gone before? A question for the LTA's new Chief Executive, Roger Draper…

Roger Draper:
Well it's not a new initiative. It's not a new five year strategy. It's about setting the direction for British tennis going forward. It has made me chuckle in recent months that people think we've appointed Brad Gilbert and that's our strategy for sorting British tennis out. It certainly isn't. It's actually about grass roots right the way through to players, coaches, clubs, competitions, sports science and supporting the Andy Murrays of this world. This Blueprint is really bringing some leadership, setting some direction for British tennis going forward.

John Inverdale:
So how would you assess the overall state of the British game, from the elite level, right across the board?

Roger Draper:
Well I think what the Blueprint does is it actually brings some current reality and some brutal honesty to where we are. Our Key Performance Indicators going forward are: How many players have we got in the Top 100 in the world?   At the moment we've got two in the singles and Jamie Murray in the Top 100 doubles. How many players between the ages of 14 and 18 are on track to get into the Top 100?  We think we've got about ten on track. And how many juniors are regularly competing?  And that's an interesting one because we've only got about 8,400 juniors regularly competing, and that's an area we are really going to be zoning in on.

What you've actually got to do, is understand the pathway that people take from the age of three years old, right the way through to the very top. But the reality is, we've got to grow the game on one hand and we've also got to support our players, our parents and our coaches to have a chance at getting into the Top 100 in the world. And in the women's game as well, there's huge potential to develop players who can get into the Top 100 in the world on the women's side.

John Inverdale:
Now obviously to bring in all the changes that you want to bring in, you've got to have the right people in place at the top…

Roger Draper:
Well, you're quite right. We're currently recruiting a team that are going to have belief, passion, authenticity and credibility in world tennis. We've got to have world-class people around. We've started that process in terms of supporting Andy and some of our other players by the appointment of Brad Gilbert. We've got John Lloyd on board as Davis cup Captain. But we're now going right the way through British tennis from men's, women's, sports science, coaching, clubs, competitions, running the business of the sport, the commercial side, running the National Tennis Centre here and we're literally putting in a team and reinvigorating a lot of the people that are in British tennis going forward.

John Inverdale:
But unlike the BOA, you're not going to set a target? They say they want to come fourth in the medals table in 2012.  You're not going to be quite as specific as that…?

Roger Draper:
Two of the big areas coming out of our listening period have been lack of competition at a local level, and that's probably one of the reasons why we have got a wealth of talent but when we come to actually playing key pressure matches, our players don't perform. So we want many more warriors coming through. We want players who can deal with pressure in a pressure situation.

And the second thing is the parental cost and we've been taken aback by some of the costs of actually progressing through. Even for a seven year-old starting off on the performance journey,  it probably costs, £3-4,000 a year.  For a ten year old, it probably costs £8-10,000 a year…

John Inverdale:
Sorry to interrupt…but anybody watching this, hearing you say that, is going to think, well I can't afford that!  It's that constant dilemma isn't it, between ‘sport for all' and ‘sport for the best', so how do you weigh up the balance between those two?

Roger Draper:
Well the Blueprint isn't just about the problems, it's also about finding the solutions. So it is about putting in local competition. It is about subsidising the cost to our talented players coming through, so it's not just middle class parent who can afford to send their kids through the tennis system. We have got the talent in this country but we've got to reach out much more and support the players and the coaches and the parents and that's something that maybe a lot of governing bodies haven't done as well in the past – actually focus in on the important areas as opposed to maintaining the status quo and administering the sport.

John Inverdale:
We're here at this 'shell' as things are at the moment but hopefully it will be all up and running in six months time or so. For the future of British tennis, this is the nerve centre. If we were standing here in five years' time, what would you hope would have been achieved between now and then?

Roger Draper:
Well again, if you look at the measures we are putting in place, it is about winning. It is about getting more players in the Top 100 in the world. It is about supporting our coaches and making sure that this is an absolute ‘brain box' and research and development centre for British tennis. So we'll know when we're succeeding, because we'll have lots of warriors on the ground competing. We'll have lots of players on track for the Top 100 between the ages of 14 and 18. And we will be winning slams and other events. And of course, the Olympics in 2012 in London gives us another focus to shoot for some gold medals there.

So I always talk about Trafalgar square. We'll know when we're in Trafalgar Square, we'll know whether we're winning slams, we'll know whether we're winning Davis Cup matches. But at the same time, it is also about growing the game. Most people are passionate about tennis. We have the potential to become the second biggest sport in this country. We're going to have a job overtaking football, but in terms of participation in numbers, there is no reason why we can't be the second biggest sport in the country. And turn ourselves from the perception that we're a bunch of losers, to we're a bunch of winners...

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