Davis Cup relegation

Once again the dire state of British tennis was highlighted at the weekend, as the Davis Cup team went down meekly to a poor Austrian team, forcing their relegation to the Euro/Africa Zone.There is no need to say that Andy Murray is one of the world's best tennis players, ranked fourth in the world and a recent grand slam finalist he had little trouble winning his two rubbers.

But beyond that the men's game in this country is embarrassing. Alex Bogdanovic has always looked 'promising' but he is now 24 and has still not got past the first round of a grand slam, won a live Davis Cup game or broken into the top 100.

Andy's brother Jamie is a useful doubles player but by no means a world beater, a permanent teaming-up with Ross Hutchins could help though and give both players some top level practice and exposure.

Other than that there really is nothing, no-one, not even a glimmer of hope. And to make matters worse, the LTA refuse to admit the problem.

All about the kids

Crowds at the home-tie at Wimbledon at the weekend were extremely poor. Andy Murray is an amazing talent and the event should have been sold out, and if not, tickets for kids should have been issued, in fact an allocation should have been given anyway.

The team spirit in the camp was dreadful, every time there was a break the camera man had to go to the Austrian team as they were the only people in the stadium making any noise.

And as Murray pointed out Bogdanovic failed to get the crowd involved at all: "In both my matches I showed a lot of emotion and got the crowd involved.

"You have to take advantage of home support. It should be a huge advantage. That's why home teams win 82% of Davis Cup matches.

"The crowd in my match was very good. In Alex's match it looked as if a lot of people left and the atmosphere was not very good."

ATP Rankings

Basically it is a disaster all round, and it was not unexpected, the state of the game in this country has been awful for at least a decade with the strength in depth non existent.

Spain have five top 20 players (15 top 100), France have five top 30 (15 top 100) and Russia five top 40. GB have one player in the top 162, not quite the same.

Something needs to be done, and with most problems the first thing to do is admit there is a problem, something the LTA are having difficulty with.

Wasps drowning in Guinness

Played two, lost two. It makes sorry reading for defending champions Wasps, but that is the nature of the Guinness Premiership this season, no easy games.

However, there must still be an air of panic down at the training ground in Twyford, for these are the games that Wasps need to win if they want to be at Twickenham come next May.

They have a number of players who are going to be away on international duty soon, more than any other club, so while they have an almost full squad to call upon (bar Danny Cipriani) they must capitalise. They are not.

It has never been an easy league to win and with the end of season play-off system, it is all about pacing yourself, a skill Wasps have honed in recent years.

No outsiders

This year though, there are more teams challenging than ever before.

Sale, who are the only team to win the league and then go on to win the play-offs, have brought in quality like Dwayne Peel and Matthew Tait, to add to the majestic Luke McAlister and sprinkling of Gallic and Gaelic flair and grit elsewhere in the squad. And don't overlook Charlie 'the choker' Hogson to kill a game off with an hour remaining.

Gloucester and Bath both have gallons of potential, with delicately poised youth and experience combined. Although the Cherry Whites stole derby day honours at The Rec on Saturday both teams should expect to be top four come play-off time.

Although not as fancied as in previous years, Leicester Tigers are still a massive force in the game. The biggest club in the country is under new leadership, and if ex Falcon, Toby Flood can start dominating games then they will also be there or there abouts.

8-9-10

Normally the list then starts to fade, but not this season. London Irish, Saracens, Harlequins and even newly promoted Northampton all have squads and players capable to challenge.

The Nick Easter-Danny Care-Nick Evans axis at Quins is arguably the best in the league, and with Eddie Jones and Steve Borthwick now at Saracens the Fez's will be no push over.

Worcester, Bristol and Newcastle, will be the three teams who I fear may struggle. Newcastle rely on Wilkinson far too much, and he is unlikely to play more than half a season. Bristol just don't have the players, and Worcester don't seem to have the consistency.

That leaves Wasps, who could finish anywhere from first to last. Inspirational one week, dreadful the next. Dallaglio leaving is definitely no excuse, and McGeechan will not allow it to be. Playing in Wycombe, although also no excuse, is still ridiculous. They must return to the capital if they want to capitalise on their quality.

ET cricket

English cricket fans might have thought they had been punished enough recently, following the Three Lions dismal performance against the South Africans, but to compound matters, the ECB today announced their contract extension with Sky Sports for live games.
Back in 2006 the first contract with Sky to show all of England's live games was set up and it has now been extended until 2013, with Five holding on to the highlights rights.

The new contracts with both companies is worth an estimated £300m and will be up for renewal in five years time.

How the ECB possibly think this is a good decision for the sport, which is currently struggling for support, especially at test level, is worrying.

Burnt Ashes

The move from Channel 4's superb coverage, which included the momentous and historic Ashes victory in 2005 was disastrous in the first place and now it will go on for the foreseeable future.

After that Ashes series the sport was on a high, the nation was enveloped in cricket fever and like the rugby team two years previously the England players were treated like heroes.

The ideal time to flood the TV with the sport, push it in schools and really get a new generation of players involved. Instead it was yanked from terrestrial TV and dumped with Sky Sports.

OK, so those who are keen will probably have Sky and if not they may hit the pub, but that is not how to popularise something, it needs to be accessible it needs to be in the public eye.

Sky Sports is a remarkable thing that often brings sport to the public that may otherwise be lost, but national sports should be available to everyone. There should be an agreement 'somewhere' with 'someone' that all major national sports remain on terrestrial television.

Olympic show of strength

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics is only a couple of weeks away, and once again a whole nation will be trying to impress the world by putting on the biggest show on the planet. This year the responsibility falls upon China to organise and fund the Olympics, but will they be able to match Sydney and Athens, and even if they can what will the long term cost be?

China have been preparing and anxiously waiting for this since 2001 when they were awarded the Games. Ever since that day a massive PR wheel was started rolling and no stone has been left unturned and no flower bed untended in order to show the world exactly what China can do.

It is no secret that in recent years the country has developed into a super power, in all senses.

With a population of over one billion, they have the depth of resources to achieve anything and that is the message they are furiously trying to get across.

Project 119

Efforts to compete in all events, and make a serious impact upon the US dominance of the medal tables have been evident and it is more than likely that for the first time they will come out on top.

Having finished fourth and then third in previous Olympics before their second place last time around, a major push is still needed to overturn the Americans.

In order to do this the government launched "Project 119" eight years ago.

The idea was that if China was to topple the US it needed to compete across a broader range of sports. Five medal-rich sports were identified as athletics, canoe/kayaking, rowing, sailing and swimming.

And these five sports accounted for 119 potential gold medals (now 122), one third of the total available. If China succeed in this project, which it looks like they will, then they will sweep the floor, leaving the US to lick their wounds.

Sacrifices

In all honesty, a country with over a billion people should dominate, and it would be a shock if they don't.The sad element of all this is the cost the Chinese government has put on this success, not only have billions of pounds been invested, but people have been kicked out of their homes, businesses have been ordered to close and communities have been destroyed.

In order to create the biggest show on earth sacrifices have had to be made, and it appears the Chinese government are unfussed what these are. With chronic pollution, political frailities involving neighbouring Tibet and nearby Burma, the success and smooth-running of the games is not certain making viewing that bit more exciting.

Money, Money, Money

This year's Wimbledon is well underway and once again proving to be a huge success, but one thing has been griping my mate. Money.

This is the second year at SW19 that men and women have been awarded the same prize money, with this year's victors taking away a ridiculous, £750,000 each.

Pressure on the LTA to pay women the same as men had been mounting for some time, when they eventually bowed last year.

David Cameron, Tessa Jowell and Richard Branson all supported the change and with little room for manoeuvre, Wimbledon followed in line with the Aussies and the Yanks. (The French still only pay the winners the same)

Members of the women's tour including the Williams sisters and chief exec, Larry Scott made their feelings unequivocally clear, Scott said: "In the 21st Century it is morally indefensible that women competitors in a Grand Slam tournament should be receiving considerably less prize money than their male counterparts."

Strong words, especially from a guy, you suspect there must be a strong willed woman in his life somewhere, and he must have a hard time of it at home when he casually asks 'Whats for tea dear?'.

Hard Work

What gets my mate (and me if I'm being honest, and a bit brave) is that there is no doubt the men have to work considerably harder for their money.

In 2006 Federer won 202 games on his way to the title, compared to just 142 for Mauresmo, and Federer doesn't hang around much on the grass.

Five set games are considerably harder and more draining than a mere three, and this is the one reason why equal pay is absurd.

If you were at work, (something I am on the look out for) and your female colleague went home at lunch everyday while you slaved away into the night, you would be pretty peeved if she was getting the same pay as you.

Well why should tennis be any different? It is their job, their profession, why should they be getting paid for doing half the work.

Poor Quality

The other factor in equal pay, which is more subjective, is the quality of women's tennis. This year like many others the quality of the women's game has been poor.

All the big names have choked, leaving a bunch of no-hopers to be demolished by the Williams sisters who will undoubtedly be meeting each other again come Saturday.

As I said, the quality issue is subjective, and if it just came down to this then I would not dispute the equal pay, but this is not the crux of the argument, it is the time and effort involved in winning games.

Either they should make women play five sets, (could be good for a laugh) or admit their mistake and start paying them less again. We the punters are the ones who probably suffer, through increased ticket prices.

Anyway, hopefully this will have stirred up some anger amongst both those who are pro and those against equal pay (in tennis), and I expect a tirade of abuse from any feminist friends (I really must do something about them).