Honing clay skills is key

The La Manga resort will become a home from home

BBC tennis correspondent Iain Carter praises the LTA's efforts to familiarise rising British stars with playing on clay.

In this age of satellite television, the best thing about a continental holiday is monitoring weather forecasts at home.

This I did with much glee last week, soaking up the Spanish sun while Britain was being lashed by wind and rain.

Now before you get sick of my gloating and click elsewhere there is a point to this.

I was taking the chance to enjoy clay court lessons while any hope of playing tennis in Britain would have been entirely dependent on the availability of an indoor court.

By coincidence I was being put through my paces at the very resort which will be used by Britain's leading youngsters for winter training.

The five-year arrangement with the La Manga club in south-east Spain begins in December.

'Too good to refuse'

Indeed my lessons took place with the rumble of bulldozers close by as the resort builds six more clay courts for the specific use of British players who will be sent by the Lawn Tennis Association.

The LTA says the deal was too good to refuse. They're getting free use of the courts while La Manga will use the arrangement to publicise their tennis facilities.

Henman: Never quite at home on clay

The deal is at the heart of the LTA's clay-court strategy.

Leading prospects can train on the surface which is traditionally the least favourite of British players and hone skills which would otherwise be alien to them.

Patience and tactical acumen will become automatic dividends, and last week I saw two British teenagers who attend the Sergi Bruguera school playing as if they were Spanish natives.

For them there was no problem in playing ground strokes at shoulder height off balls spitting from the clay thanks to heavy top spin. It appeared second nature.

And that is vital.

On the next court to my lesson were local schoolchildren, some as young as four, being tutored in the rudiments of tennis in its most arduous form.

Following in the footsteps of Bruguera and Carlos Moya to French Open glory will be their dream, and Wimbledon will always be the aim for British youngsters.

But now there's a far better chance of Britain enjoying success on the red clay of Roland Garros as well.