Conor Niland bemoans hurdles facing Irish tennis talent

As the likes of Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Murray prepare to battle it out for the US Open, there is a lack of Irish players in the field.
This is nothing new. The last representative Ireland had at the tournament was James McGee in 2014, and we are currently without a player inside the top 600 in the ATP Tennis World Rankings.
Conor Niland, Irelandâs most successful tennis player, feels there needs to be a marked transformation in our production lines before we see Irish tennis players competing at Grand Slams again.
Ireland definitely have an issue with producing tennis players and one of the issues is that we donât have enough indoor courts or clay courts around the country.
âTennis Ireland have the national academy, and they are trying to make that a world-class facility, but itâs hard to do that when you donât have the tournaments to build around it, the variety of players, or the court surfaces.â
However, Niland, who in 2011 became the first Irish player in 31 years to play at Wimbledon and competed against Novak Djokovic in the first round of the US Open later that year, says the lack of courts isnât the only obstacle facing our upcoming talent.
As a player who competed against the likes of Federer at junior level, the Limerick man knows first hand the challenges of travel, and climate, too.
âThe elite European juniors can play all the important tournaments by train, getting exposure to the tournaments, matches and schedule that are needed.
I was doing my Junior Cert and based in Limerick, so itâs not quite the same. I did go to boarding school in England, which was a bit of a step up, but not enough in terms of what I needed, and thatâs how the gap develops.
âIf you look at a Spanish kid for example, from the ages of 16 to 20, they donât have to leave the country. They have a full, highly competitive schedule, with 30 tournaments a year in their home country.
âThen, they go back to their home academies and get six or seven hours a day in the sunshine of clay court training. We donât get the heat, we donât get the clay and we donât have the practice partner varieties required,â said Niland.
The former 129th world-ranked player does believe there is a solution to improving the Irish tennis production line, though.
âWhat I would like to change would be, at 16, our players spending a bit more time in Italy or Spain. If you want to play for Man United, you need to go over to England at 15 or 16 and train with the best.
âItâs really hard to address the problems we have because of our climate. Itâs not easy, but we need to put on a lot more international tournaments. It will be expensive, but definitely worth the investment.â