After reading some of the comments on the TennisWeek.com message boards concerning television commentary from the ATP Masters 1000 Series tournament in Montreal, I would like to offer a few observations about the current team and the commentary business in general from the perspective of someone lucky enough to have been there and done it.

First of all, I think it is time to recognize that Darren Cahill, one-time US Open semifinalist and coach to Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi, is the game’s new star as a television analyst. Not since John McEnroe started bringing his sharp tennis intellect to bear from behind the microphone have we had someone as shrewd, succinct and illuminating to tell us what is going on.

And, unlike radio where everything from the color of the sky to the number of people in the stands needs to be detailed, telling us what is happening on television means revealing those details that are not immediately obvious to the viewer.

Cahill came up with a classic example of this when he began explaining why Andy Murray, one of best returners of serve the game has seen in recent years, was having so much trouble returning Juan Martin del Potro’s serve on the  forehand side.

“It’s his grip,” said Cahill. “He’s been expecting del Potro to serve to his backhand all afternoon so he gets set with his backhand grip for the two hander and isn’t able to switch fast enough when del Potro surprises him by going the other way. Del Potro is just serving too big and too fast.”

Now, I would guess that 90 percent of the audience hadn’t noticed that. Or simply didn’t have a clue that a grip change was even required. But Cahill was simply doing what an analyst is supposed to do — telling the viewers something they didn’t know.

I recognize that many knowledgeable viewers get hugely frustrated by commentators telling them stuff they do know while generally talking too much. And there is no question that some American commentators are guilty of this. But, like the new generation of bloggers, many of who seem to think they are suddenly journalistic experts without ever having had to meet a deadline, the technical business of commentating is not easy. As ever, criticizing from the depths of one’s couch is a pretty lazy game to play.

I grew up in the commentary box alongside such legends as Dan Maskell, who was Fred Perry’s Davis Cup coach before becoming the voice of tennis on the BBC television and Max Robertson, the fastest talker BBC Radio ever employed. Before succeeding Robertson and Gerald Williams on radio, I worked a little with Maskell on TV at Wimbledon and the French Open and he certainly taught one about economy of words. Jack Kramer who formed a great partnership with gentle Dan in the 1960’s at Wimbledon, will tell you that it was one of the most pleasurable experiences of his life. They made a great pair because of the contrast of their voices and terminology but Kramer, being the great pro he is, quickly adapted to the BBC style and became far less voluble than he was when commentating in America.  John McEnroe has made a big effort to do the same.

The BBC rule is strict. Never talk during a point and wait for the umpire to call the score before you comment on what you have just seen. I agree totally with the first point but always found the second frustrating because some umpires take an age — in this instance five seconds is an age — to call the score, thus dampening any spontaneous reaction you may have to a great winner.

Jason Goodall, a former British No. 2, and Robbie Koenig, a top doubles player of quite recent vintage, do a good job of bridging the considerable distance between the BBC and US styles and can be heard frequently now on Tennis Channel and various world feeds that can be picked up on the web. The hours they work can be extremely tiring and, while not as physically exhausting as long stints doing radio play-by-play, the concentration required is considerable.

I am not going to get into the business of rating today’s commentators because I don’t want to lose too many friends but I did like the ESPN team in  Montreal (yes, Cliff, you guys did a good job with the women in Cincinnati, too!) I think Chris Fowler is one of the best non-player commentators because of his pleasant speaking voice and, more importantly, because he does his homework. And the Cahill-Brad Gilbert partnership works well too, not least because you immediately know who’s talking — Cahill with his Aussie accent and Gilbert because no one else talks like Brad. They are both experts and it shows. Gilbert stuck to his guns over making Murray clear favorite to beat del Potro, largely on the grounds of the Argentine’s physical condition, and was vindicated. However, I must admit I was not always as confident of the outcome, having seen the increasingly impressive del Potro outlast Andy Roddick on the first really hot day in Washington DC in the Legg Mason final. But we all knew that Murray’s rigorous training sessions at Miami University under Jez Green’s demanding eye would pay off at some crucial moment and Sunday’s performance by the young, muscular Scot proved to be it.

Finally, a word of explanation for the uninitiated on things Australian. Cahill’s nickname is Killer because, when he first appeared on the tour he looked about ten and had a sweet smile. To help you understand the way the Aussie mind works, Ken Rosewall was called Muscles because he didn’t have any. Fred Stolle was not exactly combustible but they called him Fiery. One name that did fit was Bob “Nailbags” Carmichael. Before become a pro tennis player, he had been a carpenter in Melbourne. And the funny thing is that, once a name sticks, it becomes permanently adopted by the man himself.

I used to get phone calls from my old friend which began, “Huh, Nailbags here.” No further identification needed. It’s an Aussie thing.

Wimbledon’s over; those thousands of television viewers inspired by the sight of Roger Federer or Serena Williams sweeping majestically around the Centre Court have made their annual pilgrimage to whatever tennis court they can find and after discovering the game is not as easy as it looks have  gone back to the golf club — or the couch.

Meanwhile, despite the vast sums of money spent on genuine attempts to increase the national player base, Britain continues to lag behind France, Spain and Germany in the number of players of all levels participating in the sport as well the number of players capable of reaching a top one hundred ranking on the ATP or WTA tours.

Outside of the LTA, you can count on one hand the number of people who have invested time and/or money into providing the kind of facilities required. David Lloyd was obviously one of them as, in a different way was the singer Sir Cliff Richard who funded promotional tours all over the country. But a lesser known tennis devotee is Keith Sohl who built the impressive Sutton indoor tennis facility, just outside London two decades ago and has seen it grow into one of the few places where youngsters can develop career prospects in tennis, either as a pro player or in any of the sports-oriented jobs that are now affiliated to the game.

Sohl and his team, headed by former British No. 1 Jeremy Bates, are doing their best to buck the trend by creating a junior program which is attended by 1,000 kids a week. For 11 to 16 years olds there is a Junior Academy where pupils attend after school on week days and all weekend if they wish. Uniquely, there is a Junior Gym where the weights and equipment are tailored to the strength of the children using it and there is a scholarship program for 12 to 19 year olds who can take school classes in a variety of subjects.

Then there is a High Performance Club for young players who show a real desire to follow a pro career and are thought to have sufficient ability to succeed. The numbers are not large, about twenty at the moment, as Bates is not into creating unrealistic dreams.

The Sutton Academy is one of twenty High Performance centers in Britain to receive funding from the LTA but finds some of the rules laid down by the game’s parent body somewhat restricting. No child under ten, for instance, is allowed to play on a full-sized court unless he or she is approved as “exceptional” by the LTA. So all the kids have to play mini tennis. Is this the way to go? Several experts doubt it. In France they have courts of varying size, increasing in size as they kids grow older.

This particular subject opens up a larger debate over the benefits of youngsters playing with and against adults. During Wimbledon I was chatting to some of the Aussie commentators and Fred Stolle was recounting how he used to play at his local tennis club in Sydney every weekend, joining in doubles matches with his Dad and other adult members.

“That’s how I learned to play,” said Stolle. “You got to learn pretty quick, faced with adults who can hit a ball.”

Bates agreed. “That’s exactly what I did,” said one of Britain’s more successful players. “I was lucky enough to play at a club where they tolerated kids joining in adult matches. But the problem is that, in Britain at least, this is often still not the case.”

Bates is totally frustrated on another front, too. He may have teamed with Anders Jarryd to win the Seniors event at Wimbledon this year but finding any other competitive tennis in his age group in the London area will prove impossible until the annual seniors event at the Royal Albert Hall rolls around in December.

“There just isn’t anything else,” Bates told me. “If I want to play some competitive matches, I would have to go to Germany or France. I could play in leagues there most weekends in the year.”

But not in Britain. The situation has become so frustrating for David Lloyd, whose brother, John, is still the country’s Davis Cup captain, that he has quit his role as leader of  three major centers, insisting that he cannot run them on $146,000 a year. Lloyd has received grants from the LTA totaling $2.28 million so far but his request for an increase has been rejected.

“I asked for a total of $570 million for the three centers instead of the $440,000 I have been getting,” he said. “I’m sorry if I have let people down. I have never quit on anything in my life but dealing with the LTA is impossible. It is like having a communist state in a capitalist world. No business in the world I’ve come across works the way the LTA does. Every area of Britain is different and has to be treated differently.”

There are those say Lloyd, who founded the David Lloyd Clubs in Britain and has real estate interests in Barbados, Australia and other parts of the world, is rich enough to cover any shortfall. His retort is an offer to run British tennis for free but the LTA won’t let him near the place. That is hardly surprising. The LTA CEO Roger Draper would be crazy to let the fox in the chicken coup because he would be the first to lose his feathers but it is difficult to see how any real advances can be made in the current climate.

Dave Sammels, a former British player and coach who now works for the Monte Carlo tennis Academy, told Neil Harman of the London Times, “British tennis is currently low on trust and high on cynicism which is sad because there are so many committed and capable people who love the sport working there.”

Sammels believes throwing money at the problem is one way to go and you can read about his ideas in Harman’s latest Net Post column at www.thetimes.co.uk/sport/tennis. But, in the meantime, as Andy Murray gears up for another assault on the US Open Series with some more training stints at Miami University where Alex Corretja has re-joined his coaching team, Harman and others have observed the results at the Los Angeles Open with a certain amount of frustration.

Doesn’t Britain have a 22-year-old like Carsten Ball who is capable of bursting through a draw and reaching the final of an ATP event? I’m afraid not. There are a few youngsters starting to make some sort of an impression at Challenger level but that is as far as it goes.

In the juniors there were some encouraging results last week, notably from Emma Devine, a 14-year-old Scottish girl who won a Tennis Europe Under 16 event in Brussels. Should the LTA feel pleased about that? Well, sort of….except that Emma has spent the last nine months training at Justine Henin’s 6th Sense Academy in Belgium. Now where was it Murray trained? Ah, yes, Barcelona.

Everyone connected with British tennis should be hoping that, some day soon, a tournament winner emerges, having been raised at the splendid LTA Headquarters opened in 2007 at Roehampton. It was ushered through its growing pains by the then President of the LTA, Stuart Smith, who has just been elected to the ITF Board of Directors. Smith had a vision and at least made the building work. But until Britain starts producing players in numbers to even start matching those of Spain, France and Germany, the criticism will continue. Because you can’t argue with results.

Currently Spain has 14 players in the top one hundred on the ATP ranking list. France has ten and Germany nine. The United States doesn’t have too much to boast about but at least it is competitive with eight.

Britain? Just the Great Scot.