Tennis and the rise of the ‘mediocracy’

The discussion of Britain’s latest tennis nearly man has turned inevitably to the culture of a sport which, in this country at least, remains laughably exclusive. Asked on the Today programme why we fail to produce consistent numbers of good tennis players the tennis evangelist and comedian Tony Hawks (who knows a thing or two about what is laughable) made a good suggestion about opening up our ridiculously expensive (and often empty) courts to the public.

But the debate about tennis reveals a deeper malaise. In this country we are prepared to accept mediocrity because the last thing we would dare tamper with is the class system. There is a difference between elitism and exclusivity. At times on Sunday, it seemed the TV cameras were more interested in the Middleton sisters (the very symbol of the undeserving rich) than the tennis on court. But only genuine elite sportsmen and women get to play on centre court – and in order to get more British players into that arena it is obvious that we need to open up the talent pool.