India juniors are comparable to European counterparts: Paul

The junior Indian tennis players at the level of 14 and under are as good as the European players but the AITA needs to look at development of singles players, says former Britain Davis Cup captain Paul Hutchins.
Hutchins, who is Tournament Director of 'Road to Wimbledon' initiative, spoke as the tournament returned to Indian for its third edition.
The Indian players have dominated the event so far by winning the boys singles title (Siddhanth Banthia and Sacchitt Sharma) in previous two editions and girls singles title (Mahak Jain) last year at the UK's national championship.
Hutchins was asked what makes Indians so successful in their championship and that too when they run a similar program in UK.

"The Indians have adapted to the grass at Wimbledon very well. The grass at Wimbledon is now slower. And in Great Britain sometimes the top two players are not playing but I don't want to take credit away from the Indians. The Under-14 kids in India are comparable to players in Europe," Hutchins said at a press conference here.
Former British player Tim Henman, who has been associated with the RTW since its inception by organising many tennis clinics in different Indian cities, said their program was not meant to produce champions overnight.

"We have seen how they are improving. It's a learning curve. It will motivate them to play at Wimbledon. It's not a program to get immediate success but to give them opportunity and inspiration," he said.

Hutchins said it was imperative for all tennis playing nations to focus on tennis.
"We have Davis Cup (title), Andy Murray, Johanna Konta but still we want to focus on junior tennis. We are trying to give expertise with our scheme, to promote Wimbledon and HSBC."
Asked what British Tennis would gain with this initiative, he said,"It's a way to expand the club and the brand of Wimbledon. It's not just about the Championship (Wimbledon) but also developing tennis. We want to create a legacy of junior tennis development.
"Indian tennis now is more about doubles and mixed doubles. Singles is very important. AITA needs to look into it. We hope Indian junior tennis gets benefited from us with clinics, coaching programs."

Henman echoed a similar sentiment.
"The game is changing massively. Doubles is good but lack of success in singles is due to lack of depth. Sports science has become very important. A lot needs to be done off court, the strength and conditioning. Indian tennis needs to look at that."
The Road to Wimbledon is a joint initiative by the AITA and All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) through which to Indian players compete to qualify in UK's junior national championship.