The lack of success in this country has been discussed over and over again as each dire year of British tennis comes to an end. This year is different, or is it?

Right now the country is crazy about tennis; more so than ever before. From Andy’s heartbreak at Wimbledon to his heroics at the Olympic Games and then the US Open,  sport lovers have been behind him all the way.

Current British number one Laura Robson

And with the fourth Grandslam event of 2012 over, the tennis season moves into its latter. Yet Laura Robson continues to keep people talking tennis after she reached her first WTA final at the weekend.

Despite her loss, the state of women’s tennis on the circuit does seem to be improving.

It is hoped that the events of the summer will see record numbers of young people giving tennis a go. Yet the problems in British tennis don’t lie with participation. In July former British number one Tim Henman made it clear to The Standard Online that tennis is the fastest growing sport in primary schools with the fastest growing links from school to club development.

In this case, it is hard to believe that an Olympic Legacy alone is the answer to producing a future Grandslam Champion.

£69.5m was  spent on British tennis in 2011 and Henman suggested that the majority of this funding would be worth spending on eight, nine and 10 year olds in order to identify the few individuals that have the talent to go on and succeed.

This was backed by former world number one Boris Becker, who said to the Guardian Online in July:

“When you are searching for talent you have to know what you are looking for.

“You have the LTA, a long standing professional organisation and you have a country that is crazy about tennis”.

If there are the many youngsters playing the game across the country, then the LTA must have the best methods set up in order to identify the few players that have the potential.

Chief of British Tennis, Roger Draper, insists however, that things are improving and all is in place to see results in the coming years.

In reply to Henman’s worries Draper said: ” Despite Sport England’s funding cuts, we have worked with them to identify the gaps and we are now plugging those gaps”.

Andy Murray after winning the US Open

He went on to highlight the success of British Juniors at current, something that must not be ignored. Great Britain have recently won the Junior Davis Cup and have the highest ranked European player U14.

Despite Murray’s recent success, for another year he remains the only British player at the very top of the game.

Something has to change in order to see players follow in Murray’s footsteps in the near future but for now lets just relish in his triumphs.