Blake offers vision of game's life after Murray--Independent Online Edition

Independent Online Edition > Blake offers vision of game's life after Murray::

A story ostensibly about junior Myles Blake, who is contemplating whether to continue to train in Australia, where his parents immigrated years ago, or to accept the invitation of the LTA to train in England (based, I gather, on his winning two matches at junior Wimbledon, as he's never won so much as a Grade 1). My unsolicited advice: with Tiley taking charge, this is no time to leave Australia.

The subtext of this story though, is just how important tennis is in Great Britain. Evidence follows:

On the other hand, he [Blake] is three months older than Andy Murray, who was the subject of a conversation I overheard yesterday morning in a coffee shop, one middle-aged Englishwoman in a floral-print dress saying to another, with no trace of irony: "I do hope the tennis people can find another Murray."

I am trying to imagine a scenario in the U.S. where a Starbucks line would feature two thirty-something Yankee fans idly speculating on who will be the next Donald Young. That borders on preposterous, and neatly defines just how much the two countries' sporting scenes differ.

And if David Felgate, the LTA's performance director actually believes that his program is in the spotlight only during this fortnight, he's mistaken. Although it won't blind him with the same intensity, he'll be interrogated plenty at the U.S. Open, the Australian Open, the French Open and Davis Cup ties until Great Britain captures one of those titles.