Why O'Brien is not fit to fly the flag

Not that Old Father Tim was to survive the day.

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Going out: Kate O'Brien at Wimbledon yesterday

O'Brien, 21, lasted precisely an hour. She was thrashed and washed and, as stark post-match verdicts were administered, hung out to dry long before Baroness Billingham of Banbury took her seat in the Royal Box.

To watch Britain's sole survivor in the women's singles lose 6-0, 6-1 in the second round to Dutch teenager Michaella Krajicek was about as depressing as it gets. This was a case of women against girls and the higher-ranked girl won with embarrassing ease.

O'Brien, you may recall, is famous for being double handed — playing Wimbledon with one and sitting exams with the other. That was three years ago when taking A levels in mathematics and French as well as competing (and losing, of course).

She was praised for her hard work and versatility when, of course, she should have been condemned for allowing education to get in the way of sport. Where exactly do maths and French fit into the requirements of a leading sports person when accountants can be employed to add up the millions and the common language is English?

You would never have found the likes of the adolescent Steve Redgrave, Wayne Rooney or Ricky Hatton, to name but a few, anywhere near a pen and paper and invigilator.

That's the trouble with our young women tennis players. They are too brainy. Too interested in improving themselves when all they should be concerned with is improving their serve, backhand or conditioning.

O'Brien admitted it herself, saying: "I could be in better shape and I'm determined to put the work in."

What a shame she didn't find time to tone up before Wimbledon. They are also, as a genre, too middle class, too small, too podgy, too slow, too weak, too polite and too timid. Not too hungry, though, as O'Brien accepted.

"We're lucky in this country," she said. "There's so many different things we can do.

"I had the option of going to university at one point. It's easy to get financial security. You can just have a nine-to-five job and guarantee an income all the time. I play for the love of the game. I think it's no secret that Eastern Europeans have had to fight for everything they have. It's the best opportunity for them to make something of themselves."

O'Brien insists she is determined to make something of herself as a tennis professional with the opportunities being provided by the cash-rich, results-poor LTA.

No whingeing — or not much — from her at the rigid policy adopted by the game's governing body.

"I think it is good the LTA have been tough on the players who have been moaning. It is not justifiable considering the funding they've had. Some people just sit there and take it and don't put in the hard work."

Encouraging performances, yesterday excepted, have raised her ranking to around 120 and opened up the possibility of taking part in better events in North America over the rest of the summer.

She has been told she will be provided with a coach on a one-toone basis when or, more like, if she reaches 75 in the world.

It is a classic Catch 22 situation. Although receiving help from the LTA's Damien Roberts and Nigel Sears in the past few weeks, she betrayed a tactical naivety against Krajicek which screamed of lack of coaching. Time and again she put her Dutch opponent under pressure but failed to hammer home the advantage by staying on the baseline.

Whether she can climb another 50 places without further personal assistance remains doubtful.

"It would be nice to have more continuity or the same coach throughout the year," said O'Brien. "But it gives me something to aspire to. In the past they have just given players coaches when they haven't warranted it. We've got to work for it. Maybe that's why I've done well the last couple of weeks because I have to prove that I'm worthy of some assistance."

She manifestly failed in that regard yesterday with error compounded by error.

Worst of all, she failed to complete a service game without at least one double fault.

The verdict of a courtside Sears was brief and blunt. "Disappointing," he said. "We did not see the best of Katie today."

Krajicek, the Dutch No 1, is 18 and already ranked 45 in the world. If O'Brien is the best we have, then it really is time to fear for the future of British women's tennis.