The Lawn Tennis Association is "backing up its determination to get more people playing the sport more often with hard cash," according to Paul Newman of the London INDEPENDENT. In an attempt to "reverse a significant decline in the numbers of people who play tennis in Britain," the governing body plans to increase its spending on participation by more than 50% from £17M last year to £26M ($38.7M) by '18. LTA CEO Michael Downey, who took over as CEO 15 months ago, on Monday revealed the organization's strategy for the next four years. He said that the blueprint for the LTA under his predecessor, Roger Draper, had been "focused on trying to improve the country's elite players, whereas his plans were based on participation." Downey: "The fundamental problem that we face is that our sport is declining. That is a fact that a lot of people have trouble accepting." Six years ago nearly 1 million people in Britain played tennis at least once a month and 530,000 played weekly. The most recent figures "show that those figures have dropped to 694,000 and 384,000 respectively" (INDEPENDENT, 3/17). The London GUARDIAN reported Downey delivered "the most devastating critique on British tennis in a decade." It is "a brutal, honest assessment -- in stark contrast to years of denial bordering on complacency by previous administrations." Downey spoke out in a "candid and illuminating interview" at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, now an "echoing administrative hub rather than the centralised home of excellence it once was." The "pared-down surroundings" in southwest London reflect Downey's mantra: "Spend money like it's your own." He painted a "grim, familiar picture of a pleasant summer pastime still rooted in a suburban comfort zone, with middle-aged men and women enjoying their friendly tennis" in the nation's 2,700 clubs, where the average age is 45-plus and the "exertion of choice is a gentle game of doubles" (GUARDIAN, 3/17). In London, Mike Dickson reported over the next four years there will be a 50% uplift in money spent on marketing, so that by '18 around £26M will be "spent on promoting the sport of tennis" in the U.K. However, there was "nothing especially original to stir the imagination or make an impact with the wider public," no "Parks tennis revolution" or "some such thing." Anyone wanting to see something "more radical to improve the British game would be left disappointed." Despite the hundreds of millions gleaned from Wimbledon profits and that event's "ever growing popularity," there has been an average drop of 5% in adult participation over each of the past five years. The "particular problem is among the 16-44 age group with numbers steady above that." Curiously he "omitted to mention, until asked, that tennis is now played to a greater or lesser extent in 20,000 schools among 2.6 million children, an impressive figure that would be envied by most other sports" (DAILY MAIL, 3/17).
