FORMER Mildura Lawn Tennis Club coach Bill McDonald is calling for a complete overhaul of tennis in Australia.
Speaking on SEN’s The First Serve, McDonald slammed Tennis Australia (TA) and the lack of funding for the sport at grassroots level.
“This has been a deliberate scheme over the last 30 or 40 years by Tennis Australia admin to starve grassroots (tennis) into submission and turn tennis into a business under its control,” McDonald said.
“The profits of TA were meant to be distributed by our constitution into its states and regions, however these profits have been manipulated to gain control of tennis through paying staff and therefore not spent on the game of tennis itself.
“This process has seen most of our elite juniors leave our game in droves and these juniors very rarely involve their children in tennis. This has happened every year for the past 40 years and, as a result, our game has deteriorated.”
A coach for more than 30 years, McDonald has been a long-time critic of TA and its affiliated state bodies.
In his interview with former player Sam Groth and The First Serve host Brett Phillips, McDonald highlighted the number of players who leave the game in their late teens.
“I’ve travelled the length and breadth of Australia for the past 30 years, going to tennis tournaments every week,” said McDonald.
“They (players) get to 16 (years old) and they leave the sport.
“It is a very expensive game when you add up the cost of coaching, tournament fees, restrings, travel, accommodation and meals.
“TA staff are very rarely at these events, but they run all these events and still charge a fee.
“Grassroots tennis is facing a life-and-death struggle against Tennis Australia, there is no bones about that.”
McDonald believes more has to be done to boost funding for second-tier tournaments to help keep players in the game.
“I looked at their annual report and, according to that report, there was $387 million in revenue. In that same year, I looked at their Australian Money Tournaments prizemoney, which was $860,000 and ITF events $1.025 million,” McDonald said.
“This money – in the main – is put up by grassroots tennis, not Tennis Australia. Tennis Australia mainly spends money on controlling tennis.
“Grassroots tennis is all about tennis.”
