LTA suspends top junior players

Broady and Rice have had their funding withdrawn
Two of Britain's top juniors have been suspended for "unprofessional behaviour" and "lack of discipline".
BBC Sport understands David Rice, the second-best British junior, and Naomi Broady, the national Under-18 champion, have had their funding withdrawn.

They were deemed by the Lawn Tennis Association to have breached contracts requiring them to act professionally.

The LTA took the action after being alerted to photos and confessions on the Bebo social networking website.

Several other British junior players have been warned about their future conduct.

They were found to be publicising a lifestyle of partying, drinking and eating junk-food.

I don't think sometimes they realise the opportunities they've been given

Roger Draper
LTA chief executive

Neither of the players was available for comment and the LTA has not confirmed which players have been suspended.

LTA chief Roger Draper told 5live Sport: "The people they're letting down the most is themselves."

He added: "They've either got to behave like professional athletes or go and do something else.

"It's about taking responsibility, being accountable and sorting their lives out.

"What disappoints me more than anything else is while these people are saying they want to be professional tennis players and want all the trappings that come with that, they aren't behaving in that way.

"We've got to deal with it behind closed doors and there's a big education job to be done with these players. I don't think sometimes they realise the opportunities they've been given."

In the pictures, one British junior is shown slumped on a hotel bed surrounded by empty pizza boxes.

The caption reads "fatty" and someone has posted the comment "I thought you were meant to be an athlete".

Another photo shows one of the juniors standing in the street holding an empty bottle, with the caption: "Me drunk for a change".

On Broady's Bebo page she says she hates "hangovers after a good nite owt [sic]" while Rice says he's happiest when "wiv the boyz partyin and chillin [sic]". He adds "you can't beat Watford 4 a nyt out [sic]".

Virtually all the players left their pages unlocked, allowing the whole world access.

The pages were finally locked on Sunday following calls from furious officials at the LTA.

Reacting on 5live Sport, British number one Andy Murray said: "At a certain age everyone goes through a phase like this.

"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.

"It's just something as a professional athlete you have to realise, it's one of the sacrifices you have to make; you're not at university, not doing a nine-to-five job, you have to stay in tip-top shape.

"Being professional is the main thing that you need to get right if you want to become a great athlete. If you don't have that then you're never going to make it."

Is it really going to cause them that much damage to eat a pizza once in a while, and go out and a laugh with friends! Like who seriously hasn't had one or two major rebellious moments in their teenage years? And everybody goes through a phase where they think it is cool to take a photo with an empty bottle of beer (that you didn't even drink) to make people think your cool on bebo! I think LTA need to wise up on this one!

I'm not sure I think they should have been more careful bearing in mind they are being funded to be the future of British tennis. There has been a lot of criticism of the LTA funding wasters so I guess this is a reaction to this. It's not a very good example if the money they are receiving is being spent on partying and booze. Slightly harsh perhaps but it's about time Britain got tough, we are a very weak nation in general and I guess that breeds losers.