Afternoon:
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As the focus of the sports media turns to London, let's look at some facts about British tennis.
Seventy nine per cent of all schools offer tennis. Half a million adults play tennis every week, nearly a million every month. The area with the highest percentage of players? London.
Among five to ten-year-olds, tennis is the fifth most popular out-of-school sport. Tennis is not a minority sport, played by a privileged few. I agree we should be putting rackets in more children's hands – that's why AEGON Schools Tennis is so important.
The Tennis Foundation, with LTA support and investment, has this year distributed 60,000 rackets, 120,000 tennis balls free-of-charge to more than 2000 primary schools, such as Lea Valley in Tottenham, featured elsewhere in this paper.
But rackets are of no use if the teachers won't teach, so training and new teaching resources are being rolled out alongside this equipment.
We also need to change the culture in clubs. Our Clubmark accreditation scheme requires that clubs prioritise children alongside adults. Many already do, like White Hart Lane Club in Haringey that has links with 20 local schools.
If a club won't change, it won't get its share of the planned £46 million investment in facilities in clubs, parks and schools over the next five years. More must be done, but money is being invested in the right areas.
The number of juniors regularly competing is up 350% in three years. Two junior grand slam winners in two years and a runners-up spot for our U16 Davis Cup team signals things are moving in the right direction.
Yes, we need to broaden the appeal of our sport in all communities. I share the frustrations that this hasn't happened faster. But tennis is not a white, middle class sport. To say so, at worst, only puts off the people we are trying to attract.
