One fact very well known to every tennis coach is that in order to make it to the top, you must start playing the game when you are young.

I give private lessons to university students, housewives and grandparents, and by the time I get around to teaching them their first backhand or serve, I get the same reaction -- a deep sigh and words like "If only I’d started learning as a kid, I’m sure I could master this shot'' or "until we got to the serve I thought I had coordination''. Mainly, however, it’s just the simple observation that "on television it looks so easy".

Well, easy it isn’t.

Tennis is a complicated sport where good technique is essential for somebody who wants to play properly, and it can only be gained through constant practice. Coaches in who teach in clinics learn the number one rule of teaching tennis on their first day in the classroom: "Make sure your student gets the ball over the net at least 80 percent of the time, that will almost guarantee that he/she stays on at least for a while longer".

In reality, many of the millions of kids who start learning do stay on. But the difference between a kid staying on just for the fun of it and one capable of becoming a serious player is immense.

Raising tennis players is no picnic. It requires dedication, physical and emotional toughness and of course athleticism, coordination (mainly hand-eye) and a big portion of good fortune. To bring all those together is not an easy task, and that’s why so few make it to the top.

So how come several countries have managed over the years to produce scores of top players while others have failed dismally? Why can a country be a champions’ factory for two or three decades and then suddenly struggle to get a player to the world’s top 100?

There is no easy answer - just a bunch of examples. Sweden is an interesting case in point. Since the emergence of the legendary Bjorn Borg in mid-1970s, the Scandinavian country produced dozens of great players in a remarkable run of success: Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Jonas Bjorkman, Andres Jarryd, Henrik Holm, Magnus Gustafsson, Joachim Nystrom, Magnus Norman, Mikael Pernfors, Nicklas Kulti, Thomas Enqvist, Robin Soderling, to name just a few.

But suddenly in 2006 there is nothing. Only three players in the top 100 is definitely the sign of a fallen tennis empire. So has the Swedish system stopped functioning? Have they run out of talent?

Germany is another good example of a country that has lost its way. Gone are the happy days of Boris Becker, Michael Stich, Steffi Graf, Claudia Kohde-Kilsh and Anke Huber. Today the country has only two players worth mentioning - Tommy Haas and Nicolas Kiefer.

The U.S. and Australia used to be tennis giants – but not any more. Australia has a well-organised system of bringing on players that just isn't working and in the U.S. there is no real national system and the country relies on the masses of kids who start playing tennis in elementary school hoping that the cream rises to the top and the talented ones make it into professional tennis on their own.

But the truth is simpler than it seems. The problem is not a lack of funds, a good system or real talent. It’s that tennis has become much harder for aspiring professionals.
The notion outside the game that every professional player automatically becomes a millionaire has changed, and people understand today that only the lucky few become rich and famous.
Parents of talented kids still dream of success, but they are now also aware of the pifalls. To be a good tennis player is not enough. You have to be exceptional to really make it.

The best advice to anyone with dreams about their kid’s tennis career has to be - don't count on it. Better be surprised if it happens than disappointed and heartbroken when they discover the dream will never materialise.

Another suggestion I would make to tennis countries that have failed to produce quality players in recent years is to concentrate on the girls. It’s a fact that it is much easier to succeed in women's tennis than in the men's game.

If there is a chance to make it in the big time, it’s with a skirt on.