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FOR British tennis fans, Wimbledon once again ended with a whimper after Andy Murray’s inevitable collapse to Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals and Liam Broady’s final loss in the boys’ singles.
Since the draw came out we knew it would come to that Nadal encounter if we were to see Britain’s finest (now Scotland’s finest) reaching the last round.
Of course, it was another case of the plucky Brit going out for both Murray and Broady but something happened in the boys’ singles which did surprise me.
Evan Hoyt, a 16-year-old wildcard entry from Llanelli, managed to make the second round before losing to eighth seeded Croatian Mate Pavic.
It’s the first Welsh player I think I’ve ever heard of but, let’s face it, he’s done nothing of significance on a sporting scale, just had a great personal achievement.
The problem everyone has with Murray’s exit is his failure to maximise his potential as a grand slam winner but the problem for British tennis goes deeper than that.
Now that Wimbledon is over tennis news will disappear faster than Katie O’Brien’s first set bagelling in her opening match.
The truth is there isn’t enough interest in tennis in this country and that can be traced back to a success-starved nation.
China has Li Na, Serbia has Novak Djokovic and we have Fred Perry, now known for being on t-shirts rather than for holding a racket.
Even if there are enough Welsh kids picking up a racket, how can they rely on travelling the world as a tennis player when no one has won a major since Virginia Wade in 1977?
Sure there have been good players who’ve won titles on tour but they’re deemed failures for not ending the drought, particularly so if they’re male, and many only get the Wimbledon June/July period to advertise themselves.
The emergence of young Hoyt offers hope but until someone breaks the barrier we’re forever going to be stuck with players whose second round exits become momentary heroics.
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