How tennis has developed over the past year and what it must do next to meet the Olympic medal target

Steve Martens, LTA player director

In the past year we have … seen the continued development of our best female players, with Elena Baltacha reaching a career high of 52 in the world, Anne Keothavong making her comeback from serious injury, and Heather Watson winning the US Open junior title. Both she and Laura Robson have also made steady progress into the senior game.

Britain’s juniors enjoyed a successful Wimbledon, and there is a good depth in talent at the younger age groups, competing in European and international tournaments.

This development is backed up by strong support in sports science and coach education. We are also fortunate to be able to celebrate the achievements of Andy Murray, who reached a grand slam final in Australia, and his second Wimbledon semi-final this year.

We have recognised that below Andy, there is a lack of strength in depth on the men’s side, reflected in the Davis Cup defeat in March. Since then, we have combined the role of Davis Cup captain with that of head of men’s tennis (Leon Smith), and we are looking at the best ways to maximise the performances of our older players, while supporting our younger players to make the difficult transition from juniors to the men’s game.

This month’s Davis Cup victory over Turkey was only the start of a long journey, but it is a small step in the right direction.

In the next two years we will … keep investing in a comprehensive support programme for players, coaches and high performance centres, based on a no-compromise approach to player funding. We are currently four years into a 10-year plan for restructuring the sport, and we will start to see more of the fruits of that work coming through, in particular in the women’s game, and in the juniors. But as in any sport, the last place we will see the benefits of this programme coming through will inevitably be at the elite end of the men’s game.

In 2012, there will be more Olympic medals up for grabs in doubles than in singles, and we will continue to focus a lot of our attention on this area of the sport, led by Louis Cayer, one of the world’s foremost doubles coaches.

Medal tally prediction … Andy Murray has consistently proved himself to be one of the best players in the world, and his impressive record at Wimbledon also makes him a medal contender. With home support, on the grass of Wimbledon, there is no reason why other British men and women should not be making an Olympic medal one of their goals for 2012.