STIRLING and Loughborough Universities were named today as the sites of two national academies that will form the centrepiece of the Lawn Tennis Association’s new high performance pathway.

The strategy, unveiled at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, is the latest LTA attempt at producing a system that will create British strength in depth at the top of the sport.

It has been a long time coming, with the high performance department in flux under the stewardship of former chief executive Michael Downey and the new pathway then delayed by Downey’s resignation and the appointment of Scott Lloyd as his successor.