Bloodbath for Brits at Wimbledon

As tradition demands, the opening two days of Wimbledon have been a bloodbath for the low-ranked British players awarded wild-cards. There were some encouraging performances, not least from 15-year-old golden girl Laura Robson to win the first set against Daniella Hantuchova, a former world number five, but most of the home hopes succumbed limply to superior talents.

The tally of only two survivors – Andy Murray and Elena Baltacha - out of the 11 Brits who entered the tournament on Monday was the worst showing since the professional era began in 1968.

For the eighth time in as many years, the British men’s number two, Alex Bogdanovic, fell at the first hurdle, beaten comfortably by Czech Tomas Berdych. His defeat has reignited the debate as to whether the LTA should continue to award wild-cards to under-performing Brits.

But this year’s biggest disappointment was a player who had earned a place in the draw by right. Anne Keothavong has made great progress in the past 12 months, during which she briefly broke into the world top 50. But though she had a set point against Patricia Mayr, an Austrian she was supposed to beat, she then lost in two sets. At her post-match press conference she burst into tears.

As ever, there are questions about the leadership of the LTA. Roger Draper, a former rugby league professional, took over in 2006. He promised to be ruthless, to blow away the cobwebs and to bring through a generation of young talents. But there is little indication that this is happening.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:

Neil Harman, the Times: The responses from the first-round losers were generally shallow, the wringing of hands from the governing body predictable — “it’s all the last lot’s fault” is the mantra…T his comes from an LTA regime that decided from its inauguration in 2006 that high performance was the be-all and end-all, that no matter how staggering the investment, Britain would employ a string of foreign coaches, pay them handsomely and success would come quicker than you could say Brad Gilbert. Instead, as employees depart in demoralising numbers... an uncompromising attitude that they know right and everyone else is wrong has been allowed to fester unchecked.

Steve Bierley, the Guardian: So what happens now? The cry will go up for the LTA to be disbanded, a near impossibility, or for a new hierarchy. Clearly nothing can be changed in three years. Whatever the Draper regime's strength and weaknesses, and commercially it has been highly successful with the pre-credit crunch deal with Aegon, he is still picking up the pieces of the last crew who remain on the periphery, sniping from the bushes. The give-us-the-money-and-we'll-do-the-job merchants have been given the money and done nothing.

Kevin Mitchell, the Guardian: [Alex Bogdanovic] has earned a meagre $440,424 (£267,000) in his largely undistinguished career. He is not good enough, even, for the Davis Cup team any more. He is 25 and young enough to keep coming back here until he becomes something of an absurd institution, a monument to British sporting incompetence. The problem is the machinery is in place to allow him to do so. Anyone inside the top 250 is eligible for a wild-card nomination to the showpiece event of the summer and Bogdanovic always does enough to satisfy the criteria.