Monday 30 June 2014 15:55, UK
Former British No 3 Jamie Delgado believes some home-grown players lack the necessary drive to compete with the world's elite.
Only three British players made it into the second round of Wimbledon this year and Delgado claims the public have a right to expect more.
Delgado, who reached the second round of Wimbledon on only three occasions in his nine attempts, says a gulf is emerging between junior and professional success.
Andy Murray is the lone British male in the ATP top 100, while world No 60 Heather Watson is the highest ranked female, with Laura Robson (91) and Johanna Konta (96) also creeping in.
“It’s an easy thing to say about British players because they do get a lot of help and when they don’t have the results you feel they could have it’s very easy to point the finger but possibly a few of them could be more driven,” Delgado admitted when speaking to Sky Sports.
“Over the years in Britain we have had a lot of world class top juniors going back to when I was a junior.”
Robson won the Wimbledon Girls’ title in 2008 and went on to reach the fourth round of the senior tournament in 2013, where she was knocked out in straight sets by Kaia Kanepi, but the 20-year-old was unable to feature this time around due to injury.
Meanwhile Watson, who claimed the US Open junior crown in 2009, was unable to make it past the second round at the All England Club as she fell to Angelique Kerber.
“Every year through we’ve always had top juniors but our success rate of getting them through to the top 100 or top 50 in the world has been very poor,” he added.
While there has been success on home soil for emerging British talent in the girls’ game, you would have to trace back to Stanley Matthews’ 1962 triumph for success in the boys’ competition.
