LTA criticised by MPs and peers in letter to Sports Minister

ROGER Draper's Lawn Tennis Association has been strongly criticised following his appearance before a panel of MPs and peers last week.

CRITICISED: Roger Draper's LTA needs to be 'more accountable', according to the All-Party Parliamentary Tennis Group (Getty Images)

The LTA chief executive has been told he needs to be ‘more accountable' about how his organisation spend the millions they receive in public money.

Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe - who has previously been critical of the LTA - asked the All-Party Parliamentary Tennis Group to investigate the state of British tennis following Britain's relegation in the Davis Cup - which they subsequently followed with a fifth straight defeat against Lithuania earlier this month.

Baroness Billingham, who chairs the panel, has told Sutcliffe that officials gave ‘confusing replies' during their meeting at Westminster last week.

She recommended tightening procedures on performance-related bonuses and expressed concern that ‘esteem for the LTA seems to be at an all-time low'.

Draper's organisation received £26.8 million of public money to fund grass roots projects between 2009 and 2013.

In addition they receive £25 million plus annually from the profits of Wimbledon from organisers, the All England Lawn Tennis Club, and recently signed a multi-million sponsorship deal with financial services provider Aegon.

Billingham - who wants the remit of her panel expanded to take a deeper look at the LTA's policies and practices - also claimed Sport England should study more closely how the sport spends money on grass roots projects.

And a lack of top-class players was also an obvious concern.

At present there are only two British players in the respective men's and women's top 100 - Andy Murray and Elena Baltacha.

The worryingly lack of depth in the men's game has long been a concern, although there is encouraging signs in women's tennis, especially following the successes of rising stars Laura Robson and Heather Watson.

"We were informed by the LTA that it was perfectly proper to include doubles players when setting out to the public the number of players in the top 100 and we were told that other countries did so. If this is the case, it has the potential to mislead. Lots of other questions brought similarly confusing replies," wrote Baroness Billingham.