Maria Sharapova is convinced that even the wealthy Lawn Tennis Association will struggle to produce champions if young players possess the wrong attitude or lack sound guidance.
The 26-year-old Russian, who won Wimbledon at the age of 17 in 2004, claims only the most headstrong of prospects can turn natural talent into achievement at a professional level and warned that “it’s really easy to not make it”.
Sharapova is certain that federations pouring money into elite-level coaching need to have reservoirs of patience as well as deep pockets.
The Russian, who is sport’s highest-earning woman due to her tennis results and several lucrative endorsements, included the LTA in her reckoning as she stressed even the richest national bodies could not take a short-cut to grand slam glory by signing big cheques.
Speaking at the All England Club, she said: “I think we talk about it every single year here. You get a lot of questions about, ‘Why is our generation…’ or ‘Why are girls and boys from our country not doing extremely well right now?’.
“Well, it’s because it doesn’t all happen in one night.
“If you’re talented and you don’t have work ethic or you’re not placed in the right hands, it’s really easy to not make it. That’s the bottom line.”
There have been signs of progress in the British game, with the likes of Laura Robson and Heather Watson making sound progress up the women’s rankings and Andy Murray maintaining his place in the elite bracket on the men’s side.
But Sport England is closely monitoring the LTA’s performance after withholding funding from the organisation due to falling numbers of active players.