British tennis fans are excited. At a time when their best player in years, Tim Henman, is on the verge of ending his long and successful career, they are already hailing their next hero – a 19-year-old Scot called Andrew Murray.

Last year Andy jumped more than 449 places in the rankings and today is No. 19 in the world. He held his highest ranking so far a month ago, when he leapt to No.16 for a couple of weeks.

Murray is a very good player. He has natural talent and can do things on the tennis court that nobody can teach. But he is not your natural athlete and on top of that, hard as it is to say, he is plain lazy. Roger Federer, the best player in the world, said in an interview last year that he thought Murray definitely has what it takes to become a top-class player -- but that the Scot would have to work much harder if he wanted to achieve great goals.

Murray can probably make it on talent alone. But if he wants to win a Grand Slam, he will have to start working not only on his footwork but especially on his attitude. Andy is spoiled. Whenever things don't develop on court the way he expects, he tends to turn on the "indifference switch" and broadcasts to his opponent that he is not interested any more. He walks around the court like a little lost boy, looking to his entourage for help when he is the only one who can make the difference. And more often than not, he just waves the white flag and calls it a day.

So if British fans are hoping to see a homegrown player win Wimbledon for the first time since Fred Perry in 1936, well, they can keep waiting. Henman is the closest they are going to get. British tennis is bankrupt -- and not because of a shortage of funds. Every year a sizeable portion of the Wimbledon profits -- millions of pounds -- are set aside to help produce new champions. But nothing seems to happen.

No talent? Hardly. There are talented kids running around tennis courts all over England but there must be something wrong with the system. Bad coaching? Maybe. Murray negotiated himself a nice deal just a couple of months ago while making a laughing stock of the Lawn Tennis Association in the process.

Before the Davis Cup tie against Israel, he told the LTA he would represent his country only if they pay the considerable salary of his new American coach, Brad Gilbert, for the next year. A professional tennis player who is already earning hundreds of thousands a year from tennis and endorsements gets his coach's salary paid by his national association? Well done, Andy! If the teenager was as brilliant on the court as he is in business, he would be chasing Federer right now.

But no worries. Even after paying Gilbert's salary, the LTA has more than enough money left. What should worry them is the fact that Murray got what he asked for and then gave a three-day nightmare performance for his country against Israel. Britain lost the tie, thousands of pounds and, most of all, their pride, while the Andy smiled all the way to the bank.

The situation in British women's tennis is even worse. Two good players represented the UK in the last decade or so – Jo Durie and Samantha Smith. Durie was ranked in the top 50 but retired in 1995, while Smith reached No.55 in the world. Today, the best-ranked British woman is Anne Keothavong at No.138 -- and while we wish her luck, we had to look long and hard to find her name on the WTA site.

For British tennis fans' sake I hope my predictions are wrong. They deserve a Grand Slam champion again, at Wimbledon or wherever they can get one. Murray has the talent to do it -- but I am not sure he has the desire, the heart and mental toughness.