Manchester Masters Tennis 2010

It’s that time of year again where everybody dusts off the old wooden racket and runs down to the nearest tennis court. Why? Wimbledon of course.

How much money do the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) really need to produce just one champion? John Lloyd came close, Jeremy Bates came close, Greg Rusedski (Candian) came close, Tim Henman not close enough and of course Andy Murray is getting closer.

For two weeks of the year we suffer the same disappointment. Days one and two of Wimbledon sees the same pattern of 10 or so Brits in the main draw and by the end of the first round matches, we are left with just one man standing. You know, the Scottish one, AKA Andy Murray. Let’s stick to calling him British so we can share the glory if he does win eh?

Murray’s reaction to his fellow Brits exiting the tournament was, “it’s not great, is it...everybody that will be working at the LTA will be disappointed.”

Disappointed? That’s the understatement of the year. They should be completely ashamed. How much money do the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) really need to produce just one champion? John Lloyd came close, Jeremy Bates came close, Greg Rusedski (Canadian) came close, Tim Henman not close enough and of course Andy Murray is getting closer.

The LTA receives £25m plus per season from the surplus of the Wimbledon Championships. They are receiving £28m of public money over the next four years. Clearly this money is going to waste. Since Fred Perry’s last win at Wimbledon in 1936 we have produced a great clothing line and five nearly-there men.

The question now, is what can be done to fix it? How can we produce better players who will at least get past the first round of Wimbledon? The answer: bring tennis to Manchester, the Northern Tennis Club in Didsbury, to be precise.

It’s been 16 years since international tennis graced Manchester and now it is back, this week (23-27 June). The Northern Tennis Club will be holding its first professional tennis tournament since 1994, when the tournament hosted some of the biggest names including Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic and Pat Rafter.

Used as a warm up to Wimbledon, the tournament was nicknamed ‘Wimbledon of the North’ but despite its popularity, it was sadly moved to Nottingham, ending its five year reign of high profile tennis.

The new tournament will be called ‘The Manchester Masters’. It sounds grand doesn’t it, however this is not the tennis that Manchester was accustomed to in the 90s. It’s more a legends tour, with former champions rather than current top seeds.

Players such as Martina Hingis and former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek, (who were there to promote the event at the launch this week) will be taking part and although Krajicek lost in the first round many years ago, he is back to promote the sport.

In summary, The Manchester Masters will comprise of old players hitting balls at half the pace they do on TV and so begs the question will it be able to pull in the crowds?

Krajicek believes the tournament will be enjoyable as it will still have a very competitive edge. He’s probably right. After all, Krajicek is the only player to have a winning head to head record over Pete Sampras and at the age of 29, Martina Hingis has won 15 grand slams and still hints at returning to the main tour. Form is temporary, class is permanent and these oldies certainly have plenty to offer the younger generation of tennis stars. The usual legend jokers such as Mansour Bahrmi and former Davis Cup captain Jeremy Bates will also be great fun to watch, making it different to any other tournaments in the country.

As Jeremy Bates explains: “This tournament will have a format that crosses a wide range of the sport. With Queens and Eastbourne for example, you only have professional tennis whereas here in Manchester, the event should be a success because it covers the entire spectrum. There will be a blend of young and old, grand slam winners as well as juniors.”

And the tennis doesn’t stop this week. There will be the addition of the Aegon GB Pro Series Men’s event, which will see up and coming tennis talent competing on the $10,000 ITF Pro Circuit at The Northern Tennis Club from June 27 to July 3. It will give the people of Manchester the chance to see British players such as James Ward and Josh Goodall in action.

So, there’s no need to jump on the train down to Wimbledon because there is entertaining tennis on our doorstep for the next two weeks at this wonderful tennis club with courts to rival Wimbledon and with plenty of new talent too. You never know, our next potential Wimbledon champion, could be just around the corner, in Didsbury.