Andy Murray urges British funding rethink

(GETTY IMAGES)

Andy Murray believes the secret to future success for British tennis is to stop funding players and let them earn their way to the top.

Murray has risen to third in the world rankings and just saw an 18-match unbeaten run come to an end with defeat to Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters.

As Murray prepares for the ATP World Tour Finals which begin in London on Sunday he has delivered his own view on how British tennis could be improved.

Murray, who quit Britain for a tennis academy in Spain at the age of 15, told the Daily Mail: "Do you know that in Spain, at 18, your funding stops?

"From there, you get nothing that you cannot earn for yourself. We're funding guys to 27, 28 - while in the most successful tennis nation in the world you're basically on your own. Maybe there's something in that.

"When I went to Spain, from the best players to the worst players we were all taught the same way, all given the same drills. They had a structure and they stuck to it.

"Go to our national centre and you've got 10 different nationalities all coaching a different way. If we don't get the results straight away, we panic and change direction.

"There is no confidence in our technique, no sense of sticking to an idea, no identity, no consistency in the way we teach tennis, so naturally there is no British style."

PA