Unless we can change Britain's tennis clubs from leisure and adult-orientated organisations to a more competitive and junior culture, you can forget about producing champions

Patrice Hagelauer

Mauresmo: One of the current crop of French female satrs

There's no excuse when you realise that the profits from Wimbledon, last year more than �30m, are given to the sport's ruling body in this country, the Lawn Tennis Association, to develop the game.

It makes Britain one of the richest tennis nations in the world.

Views on why Britain produces so few top class players vary.

Lack of sport in schools and the high cost of club membership certainly contribute.

Culture clash

Others point to the LTA itself and accuse it of being behind the times.

Two years ago, the LTA employed the man largely responsible for putting French tennis where it is, Patrice Hagelauer, to do the same job here.

He told BBC Sport Online: "In France, they have 60-80 players between 16 and 20 who have the potential to be top professionals. In Britain we have 20 or 25.

"The key is getting that number up to increase the chances of more of them making it to the top. The answer lies with the ordinary tennis clubs around the country.

Delgado:

"We are trying to change the culture in these clubs.

"At the moment, they are leisure and adult-orientated. We need to change it to a more competitive and junior culture. If this doesn't happen, forget about producing champions."

With that in mind, former British Davis Cup captain Paul Hutchins has been asked to find clubs worthy of investment to become part of the LTA's programme, which they call Club Vision.

Simple solution

Hagelauer added: "The good news is that we have identified 25 clubs, and in October there will be 35 more, who are going to be performance-orientated for juniors.

"Paul is confident that by the end of next year, we might have between three and 10 clubs in each county that can be part of our scheme.

"The real target is to 400-500 clubs. If we don't achieve this goal we will never have enough players.

"You might get lucky and have a tennis family, like the Maleevas in Bulgaria or the Lapentti's in Ecuador, but if you want strength in depths you need good facilities for juniors in clubs.

"It is as simple as that."