By Iain Carter BBC tennis correspondent

Patrice Hagelauer was handed a no-win situation when he took the post as performance director at the LTA.

It was highly unlikely that he would ever be able to effect significant change for the better, however long he stayed.

Hagelauer identified that the big problem in British tennis was that the base of talent was too thin and not enough youngsters were taking up the sport.

If what Hagelauer has been doing has been right then the benefits will be reaped in the next 10 years

He directed all his efforts to this area and this was fundamentally right.

But I think it was at a cost.

He should have spent more time addressing the level of players immediately below Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski.

We have been in the almost unprecedented position of having two players at times both within the world's top 10.

That has given us the chance to make real inroads in the Davis Cup.

Hagelauer could have done more for Lee et al

During that period none of the players immediately below Henman and Rusedski - Martin Lee, Arvind Parmar, Jamie Delgado - have made any sustained progress.

Lee broke into the world's top 100 but by the end of the year, admittedly after an injury, he had slumped back to the mid-100s.

It is a regret that Hagelauer was not able to use his experience to find a way to coax something more out of those players.

I was always disappointed when I saw him watching Henman and Rusedski in the early rounds at Wimbledon rather than monitoring the lesser lights of the British game.

On the upside, though, there is no doubt that he has invigorated the club scene and identified that as the area where we have to breed our talent.

It was an ambitious call, and I am still to be convinced it was the right one, because the British club culture is not the same as it is in France.

He met resistance from the clubs but his passion for his beliefs has also won over a great many.

Hagelauer persuaded some clubs to evolve

I was encouraged by hearing him talk in a forthright way at the national championships about the improved standard of our very youngest tennis players.

He believes kids of 10 to 12 are now being taught the fundamentals correctly.

As for the future, I think the LTA has to be bold in seeking a successor.

If what Hagelauer has been doing over the past four years has been right then the benefits will be reaped in the next 10 years.

It would be wrong to squander that legacy.

Whoever takes over must harness the best parts of the Hagelauer regime and impose their personality with brave initiatives.

They must make sure they do not tolerate mediocrity because that will get the LTA nowhere.