A yet-to-be-chosen boarding school in the Leeds-Bradford area could well play a vital role in the future of British tennis.

Pupils aged 14 and over would stay there and commute to Carnegie Regional Tennis Centre in Leeds - one of seven nationwide venues that hope to provide the sport with the successors to Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski.

The LTA's Performance Director Patrice Hagelauer, who used to coach Yannick Noah and Henri Leconte, said on a visit to Carnegie: "If a child's priority is school then so be it, but you cannot do that and tennis.

"Private schools are expensive, but we are prepared to help the parents by paying 75 per cent or more of the fees if they cannot afford it themselves.

"There would be an entrance exam at 14, but if a youngster has talent but no money behind them then I am sure we can find a way to help them too.

"We don't just want rich kids - if a player has talent, the LTA must help. We want to be part of the family.

"At the moment the education system doesn't help with children starting at 8am and finishing late afternoon.

"There isn't a lot of time to play tennis, or any other sport, but in a boarding school they could play tennis for three hours in an afternoon and do their studies in the evening.

"Other countries are doing it, particularly Eastern Europe, and if we don't we will never catch them up.

"If British kids don't get that much tennis in, then they have no chance.

"There is the flexibility in boarding schools that we need, but what I call 'free tennis' - playing the sport while not being coached - is also important.

"Bisham Abbey is going to be the centre of this nationwide programme - there would be camps there for players and coaches, and physical training etc. We have Bisham for 150 days a year.

"After the age of 16, youngsters must make a choice. There are 1,500 players on both the men's and women's tours, and pretty soon that figure will be 2,000.

"Players must be prepared at that age to spend eight months of the year away, travelling with their racquets and living in hotels, playing in a mixture of junior and senior tournaments.

"When they finish their exams at the age of 16 they are pre-professional players and need to be in a squad

"It all starts at 16 or 17, but if they put education first and leave it until they are 20 it is too late.

"If they play Satellites or Challengers at the age of 20 or 21, they will fail if they are playing against kids of 17."

Frenchman Hagelauer added: "Tennis costs a lot of money - even at regional level - because of tournaments, squad coaching and individual coaching and training, and it is not easy on a family's budget

"At the age of ten to 12, kids should have about six hours of tennis a week, including two hours of squad tennis and one hour of physical work.

"At 13 there should be an extra session of squad tennis, plus a tournament at the weekend, and at 14 there should be two to three hours a day - two of tennis and one of physical work.

"But we have built safeguards into the programme. We know that it is dangerous for a youngster's developing body to play too much tennis at ten, 11 or 12."

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