By Martin Richardson BBC Sport

David Felgate insists he has a burning passion for British tennis Analysis: An impossible job?

The Lawn Tennis Association's (LTA) new performance director David Felgate says it is time for British tennis to start producing new talent.

Felgate takes over the post from Patrice Hagelauer and will immediately set about improving Britain's young tennis hopefuls when he officially starts work on 31 March.

"The first thing I'll do is get a tracksuit on," said the 38-year-old, who leaves his post with sports management company IMG.

"I'll get out there and talk to the players and coaches, and together we can try to find the best environments for each player.

"One of the things we haven't been good at doing in the past is converting our junior success into success on the [senior] tour.

"I look at the list of players' rankings now and they are too low. I know that they can all do better.

Felgate lands LTA post

"What I will be trying to do is find out the best way to deliver these great young players to the top echelons of both men's and women's tennis.

"You won't hear from me, 'There aren't enough facilities', 'There isn't enough funding'.

"The structure is in place, we've got what we've got and there can be no more excuses as far as I'm concerned."

HAVE YOUR SAY Accepting McEnroe's help alongside Felgate would be a good idea From Jonathan Coles, London Join the debate

Felgate received the backing of his former charge Tim Henman and is hopeful the British number one can be a major force in his new set-up.

"I spoke to both Tim and Greg Rusedski briefly last night and I'd like to sit down with them a bit more.

"They both have a huge amount to offer. They are fantastic players but the best thing they can do at the moment is get fit and get back to winning matches."

Less enthusiastic about the appointment is former Wimbledon champion John McEnroe who had offered his help to the LTA and was disappointed not to be contacted.

But LTA chief executive John Crowther insisted that McEnroe had never been a candidate for the role.

Crowther said: "McEnroe made it clear that he would only be available for around eight weeks a year and what we need for the performance director is a 52 weeks a year man.

"David is the best man for the job, he will give it 100% and we are all happy that he's agreed to join us."

Baltacha: One player Felgate has identified for improvement

Felgate's contract with the LTA is open-ended and he asked for time before he is judged.

"It will take a couple of years for our current players to get up to the level where I want them to be, that's how long it takes to get the ranking points.

"What I want is in five or six years that we have a good number of players playing at Wimbledon on merit - not just the wildcards.

"We've got players capable of breaking through like Martin Lee, Alex Bogdanovic, Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong, but I want more.

"More players in the top 300, more in the top 200, more in the top 100.

"I'm not saying they are all going to win Wimbledon, I'm not saying they are all going to play Davis Cup, I just want those guys that do to have good competition."