By Sarah Holt

Draper is determined to find the right team to turn around the LTA

After six weeks in the job, chief executive Roger Draper has begun sweeping his new broom around the Lawn Tennis Association's Queen's Club offices.

The most high-profile casualty of Draper's spring-clean this week was performance chief David Felgate, who was shown the door along with two other directors.

Draper arrived at the LTA credited with masterminding the modernisation of Sport England, where he was chief executive for the last three years.

And this week's dismissals are expected to be the precursor to another major restructure he has planned for the LTA.

"Roger sees the LTA as a business whose results haven't been right," said BBC tennis pundit Andrew Castle. "Somebody had to take the fall for that.

"It was a brave thing for Roger to do because he will make enemies. But he's the boss and the LTA is an average organisation, which is becoming better than that now."

WHERE BRITONS RANK IN THE WORLD'S TOP 200 SENIOR MEN 40: Greg Rusedski (age 32) 46: Andy Murray (19) 72: Tim Henman (31) 134: Alex Bogdanovic (21) SENIOR WOMEN 141: Anne Keothavong (22) JUNIOR BOYS 125: Graeme Dyce (16) 155: David Rice (17) 174: Martin Dalton (18) 195: Simon Childs (18) JUNIOR GIRLS 66: Naomi Cavady (17) 74: Jade Curtis (16) 138: Michaela Ince (17) 162: Victoria Brook (16) Ranking as of 18th May 2006

Former Davis Cup captain David Lloyd says the need for change is motivated by "the LTA syndrome", which he says is "defeatist, insular and doesn't look for the best people".

Draper, a former junior international rugby league and tennis player, has already declared his determination to recruit the right candidates to work alongside him.

However, the new chief has not set a deadline for appointing Felgate's successor and in the meantime he will operate in "listening mode" as he plans how to take British tennis forward.

Draper is keen to usher in a new era at the LTA but with no senior player ranked above 40, male or female, and just two juniors inside the world's top 100, he may not find an instant solution to a deep-rooted problem.

"The standard of British tennis is so poor, it is frightening," Lloyd said.

"Greg Rusedski, Tim Henman and now Andy Murray are great players but their success is hiding the reality that behind them British tennis players are absolutely abysmal."

Lloyd thinks he has the answer - a David Lloyd Academy sponsored and funded by the LTA.

He has held talks with Draper about his proposition but Lloyd is already having doubts.

"I might not start the academy," said Lloyd, who has spent -and earned - millions of pounds innovating indoor tennis and leisure clubs.

"There aren't enough players to start an academy even if someone were paying me to do it."

Find out more: How to get involved in tennis

The LTA already has initiatives like Mini-tennis, city tennis clubs and Raw Tennis, a scheme to promote skills and exercises in an informal environment aimed at encouraging more youngsters to take up the sport.

Official figures show the schemes are working, with 464,000 under-18s playing tennis 25 or more times last year - a 55% increase on the numbers for 2005.

The LTA also spent �15.8m last year on performance tennis, which goes towards elite support, coaching education and tournaments from junior through to senior levels.

But with nearly half a million participants and a heap of funding, why are so few Britons failing to become world-class players?

With the standard of British tennis it is difficult to make a difference within three years British number two Andy Murray The most important thing is to find kids who are extremely hungry and have a desire to play tennis and to commit British number one Greg Rusedski

"The biggest problem is the lack of expertise among a lot of our coaches," said Castle, a former British number one.

"Their effort and commitment is very high but the culture, calibre and standards of our coaching must be addressed."

Rusedski has coached himself for the last two years while Henman works part-time with American Paul Annacone.

Murray, who has backed Draper's initial changes, continues his global search for a new coach after splitting from his British mentor Mark Petchey.

Solving the twin problems of emerging talent and expertise - on and off the court - is arguably inter-linked.

"The great sadness is that generations of players have been missed," said Castle.

"Alongside that an extraordinary list of talent - people like Sue Barker, former coach and player Peter Jones and David Lloyd - are not involved and they could have been a massive help over the years."

Rusedski has begun to seriously consider his future and Lloyd agrees the talent and experience need to be harnessed.

"As soon as they have finished playing, I would bring Tim and Greg back to inspire kids to play," he said.

"When that happens, apart from Murray, Britain has no chance of anyone being any good, unless we act now."

Let's hope Draper is listening.