You cannot be serious! Bad-boy tennis starlet is sent packing

A YOUNG British tennis player has been sent home from an Australian tournament in "disgrace", it emerged yesterday.

British junior Marcus Willis was dismissed from the Australian Open for disciplinary reasons.

The 17-year-old – 16th seed for the boys' singles due to start today – was pulled out of the tournament by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).

The teenager was said to have had a number of disciplinary issues, including missing a bus, arriving late for training, disappearing for a few hours and leaving his rackets at the hotel.

Roger Draper, chief executive of the LTA, which was funding Willis' trip, said: "He's blown his chance here at the Australian Open. We actually wrote to him last week explaining that he was in the last chance saloon. A few things have happened in the last few days which have led to him being sent home.

"We said last year we were going to get a lot tougher, and hopefully Marcus will come back a better player and wiser as a result of this.

"It's just frustrating because he's a really talented player, but hopefully these players will learn from their mistakes and realise that they're blowing their chances."

Mr Draper took an equally tough stance last September when two top junior players were suspended by the LTA after their "unprofessional" lifestyles were exposed.

David Rice and Naomi Broady had their funding withdrawn for a "lack of discipline" after pictures were put on the social networking website Bebo.

One British junior was shown slumped on a hotel bed surrounded by empty pizza boxes, with the caption "fatty".

One comment under the picture said: "I thought you were meant to be an athlete." Another photo was believed to show one of the juniors standing in the street holding an empty bottle, with the caption: "me drunk for a change".

The players were deemed to have breached contracts requiring them to act professionally at all times. At the time, Mr Draper said: "They've either got to behave like professional athletes or go and do something else."

Yesterday, he stuck by his aim of bringing more discipline to the game, saying that the LTA was trying to engineer a more professional approach among their junior players.

"We're trying to change the culture among the junior players," he said.

"Coming to the Slams just reinforces it – you see the Slovaks and the Croats and the Serbs and they work hard and have the right attitude.

"You don't see them missing training and leaving their rackets at the hotel.

"We're trying to explain to all these players that they're role models to the 13- and 14-year-olds and that's starting to sink in with a few of them.

"We've got to hope we get the right reaction from Marcus."

'Draconian' attitude to discipline as youngsters pushed toward glory

COACHES and parents are putting increasing pressure on young tennis players to be the best as they search for the next British winner of Wimbledon.

The endless training sessions, which leave little time for young people to pursue any other interests, seem to be forcing some to rebel against the sport.

But many believe that it is wrong to put so much pressure on junior players.

Even Scottish star Andy Murray – Britain's number one – has said that at a certain age, young players can go through a rebellious stage.

"I made some mistakes when I was 16 or 17 in Barcelona but now I don't go out, I don't drink, I don't smoke and none of the top players do," he said last September.

Fraser Stirling, a Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) qualified tennis coach in Stirling, agreed that young tennis players were under growing pressure to reach the highest levels of performance.

"There is such pressure on young players who are trying to be the next Andy Murray," he said.

"They will probably be playing four times during the week and tournaments at weekends. They don't really have time to see their school pals because they are training.

"Then, if after all that, they turn out not to be the next Andy Murray, they may rebel against it. They just want to go out and live a little."

Mr Stirling, a coach at Livilands Tennis Club, said there was now a "Draconian" attitude towards discipline in tennis.

He added that the LTA wanted to provide "the country with a Wimbledon winner and they have spent more and more money in the search for that".

DRUGS DASH SNOWBOARDER'S OLYMPIC DREAM
ONE of Scotland's top snowboarders may have shattered his Olympic dream after being caught with ecstasy at a music festival.

Rising star Neil Stead, 17, was caught with a bag of 13 tablets by undercover detectives during T in the Park at Kinross last summer.

Stead, who appeared at Perth Sheriff Court last week, was fined £150.

As Scotland's top junior, Stead hoped to be in the Great Britain ski team for the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010.

But his conviction for having Class A drugs has left his Olympic hopes in tatters.