• Success or failure is ultimately down to player’s desire • Alex Bogdanovic should not receive any more funding Tim Henman has called on British players to start taking more responsibility for themselves. The retired player is frustrated that there are no English men in the singles draw at Wimbledon next week and is peeved in particular at Alex Bogdanovic, who has complained he has not had enough support from the Lawn Tennis Association. “When are players going to take more responsibility for themselves?” asked the former British No1. “You’re always hearing complaints about lack of funding, demanding to have a new coach or the parents complaining about something. “Ultimately it comes down to the player himself. I know Boggo, he’s a nice lad and has lots of talent but he really needs to look at himself in the mirror and ask if he deserves more funding. He’s 26 and after all he’s had he really shouldn’t be getting any more. “The LTA get a lot things wrong but too often they get blamed for everything,” he added “I have a problem with a lot of the players,” said Henman, who believes that they must learn to wean themselves off the LTA’s golden teat. “All I ever hear from the players is, ‘I didn’t get this, I didn’t get that, my funding has been cut from X to Y.’ It’s ridiculous. There’s too much of this sense of entitlement. “Part of the problem is that the players get given too much and I find that disappointing. It’s got to be about the individuals; they’ve got to go out and make this happen and do it themselves,” “The Argentines and the Spaniards, do you think they get that sort of funding from their federation? No, they get nothing. The responsibility falls on the individual. So how much do you want it? How badly do you want to be getting to these tournaments, to be paying your own air fares and for your own hotel rooms. I see those Argentines and Spaniards and they have a different desire. You’ve got to have that hunger.” Tennis Everton Gayle guardian.co.uk
Read more:
Britain’s men need to take more responsibility, says Tim Henman
