The tennis Grand Slam season officially got underway in Paris at the end of May for the playing of the French Open. Historically, the showdown on the western outskirts of France’s capital normally offers up telling clues as to how prepared Britain’s best players are for the coming months which will also see Wimbledon and the US Open held. Concerningly, the outlook for 2023 looks increasingly bleak with no British women’s player even qualifying for Roland-Garros.

Pain in Paris

On the men’s side of the draw, Britain’s best didn’t fair much better either with Cameron Norrie knocked out in the third round by Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti. That early exit on Simonne-Mathieu Court put paid to any hope of a player from the United Kingdom going all the way on the clay surfaces of Roland-Garros. Indeed, the latest odds on men French Open show no name of any player from the UK in contention to win with Serbia’s Novak Djokovic instead one of the favourites to lift his 23rd Grand Slam at a competitive price of 21/1.

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The unfortunate reality is that the days of a men’s player from the UK challenging someone like Djokovic – who won the Australian Open in January, seems to be light-years away after a barren run in Grand Slams. Of course, the same can also be said for any professional woman who hopes to claim the first British Grand Slam win since 2019 when you consider that no women’s tennis player from Britain is inside the top 100 of the world – a stat that needs a few moments to truly sink in.

With underwhelming results in the men’s category following’s Norrie’s error-strewn French Open exit in June and with no representation at the top of women’s tennis from anyone in the UK, the question has to be asked, is British tennis broken? 

The structures to succeed are not in place 

Interestingly, British men’s No 2 Dan Evans who is 25th in the overall world rankings is of the opinion that certain players have been let down which has led to a poor showing on the international stage. In particular, Evans highlighted the lack of funding in parts of the sport and suggested that the available money to grow the game was not being distributed equally.

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@Lorenzo1Musetti gets past Norrie 6-1 6-2 6-4 to progress into the fourth round!

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Lorenzo Musetti

In essence, not enough support has been invested in grassroots programmes which has subsequently seen Britain’s standing on the world tennis stage steadily decrease over the last five years. 

What is the solution to Britain’s tennis woes?

The positive news is that there was a similar trend in Britain’s Olympic results before London was awarded the right to host the 2012 event. Whilst there was a great deal of expectation about what 2012 could bring for Team GB, there was a backbreaking amount of work to be done to ensure that the UK’s medal count would rival the most prolific nations in the world after disastrous showings at the previous Olympics in Atlanta, Sydney, and Athens.

To remedy this, a significant amount of money was invested in grassroots programmes during the build-up to the 2012 Olympics. It was a decision that paid huge dividends as Britain finished third in the medal count which was an immeasurable improvement from Atlanta when they ended the showpiece in 36th place. 

The broader point is that British tennis’ current tailspin can be arrested with a credible blueprint to learn from which will turn the UK’s fortunes around. We’re often told it is darkest before dawn and perhaps that’s right in this instance, but there’s no doubt that the sun will shine again on British tennis.