Anne's rebuke for Andy over girl power

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The 24-year-old became the first British woman this millennium to break into the world's top 100 last month and is leading something of a resurgence in the women's game, with a current careerhigh ranking of No92 after losing in the Surbiton final last week.

Five British women now reside in the top 200 including Katie O'Brien (104) and Elena Baltacha (144) compared with just Murray on the men's side. The Scot has branded British players lazy and demotivated and claimed the multi-million pound National Tennis Centre in Roehampton is often empty when he turns up to practice.

But Keothavong, who faces 12th seed Kateryna Bondarenko in the DFS Classic first round in Birmingham today, said: "Everyone is entitled to their opinion and Andy is no different, but whenever I go to the NTC, I know I work hard and put everything into it.

"It is always busy when I am there and it's easy to find someone to practice with.

"They have a lot of competitions there for juniors and they are always practicing.

"I can't talk about the men's side but the results for the women are starting to speak for themselves.

"There is a group of us pushing each other on and that is what you need.

"I am not opposed to juniors going abroad - I did for a period when I was younger. But there is no reason why players cannot develop here too."

It is the unbalanced focus on Grand Slam tennis in the UK that means, in the eyes of the British public, the acid test of the progress made will be the homegrown showing at Wimbledon.

Keothavong has qualified for the tournament for the first time without the aid of a wildcard, but has only won one match in seven years at SW19.

"Whoever I play at Wimbledon, I am feeling confident and know what I want to try and do on the court," said the Hackney-born right-hander.

"But tennis is not all about Wimbledon - that emphasis isn't right. We will all be working hard for the whole year and the British public should remember that sometimes."