Belief is the key to reclaiming glory days

On Tennis:Rose-tinted glasses are all very well. We hanker back to Fitzwilliam and the "old" Irish Open, where the stars of world tennis flocked each year. We look back to Davis Cup matches involving the US and John McEnroe in the RDS and think how quite splendid it all was then.

Seán Sorensen and Matt Doyle, the sunkissed kid from Redwood City, California, teamed up for Ireland, and individually the two players penetrated deeper into the international rankings than any of their compatriots since.

Sorensen, from Cork, was ranked at 203 in the world in December 1980. The 6ft 4in right-hander Doyle was well inside the magical top 100, ranking 65th in March 1982. With that status, Doyle was a regular at Grand Slams.

But more than 20 years on, the game has changed and changed irrevocably.

Ireland's present pair of male elites - Louk Sorensen, son of Seán, and Limerick's Conor Niland - are hoping to break through the 300 mark some time soon.

With Seán in for a two-year stint as Davis Cup captain, following the abrupt resignation of Owen Casey, the team has lost nothing in terms of shrewd guidance, and the experience of a captain who once played tournament tennis should prove invaluable.

But while Niland and Sorensen jnr aspire toward higher rankings, they do so in a harsher environment than their predecessors.

"There are more people playing," says Sorensen snr, who now resides in Germany. "More of the better athletes are now playing. There is more money in the game around the world and more of the top athletes in bigger countries are playing the game, so I would say that it is now comparatively tougher."

On the flip side, players who wish to play professionally have more opportunities than before. There are graded underage events at domestic, European and world level. For senior players there are Futures events, Challenger events at a higher level, and at the top level regular ATP tour events, many of which, again, are graded by the prize money on offer.

"At the same time, I don't think you can compare generations," adds Sorensen snr. "I mean was Borg better than Sampras or Federer? Obviously the guy with the modern game is going to win but if a player as good as Borg was growing up now, how would he deal with it?"

Maybe, with Borg's light physique, not so well. Or maybe he would follow the template of Andre Agassi or Lleyton Hewitt, who overcame lack of physique to become respected champions.

But while Irish tennis has not been able to throw up world-class players in the way Irish golf has, Sorensen is not downhearted about the future, and players like his son and Niland (and, indeed, Irish Federation Cup players) have the prospect of significantly raising their games by making incremental adjustments.

"The fitness is important, the technique, the strokes and ability to hit shots," says Sorensen snr. "There are many facets. But a lot of it is if you believe it mentally. Shot-wise, fitness-wise, I think they (Irish players) have the ability.

"Tennis Ireland (TI) now work with a Frenchman called Antoni Girod on that side of things. TI is a better-organised body now than it was 20 years ago. There is more money . . . so there is the chance to support younger players.

"I mean, look at Andy Murray. That's a country (Scotland) we can look at and say that in many ways they are similar to Ireland. I remember triangular events between Scotland, Wales and Ireland taking place because England wouldn't play with us.

"I think now in Ireland there is more of an attitude and belief that you can win and do better. A lot of young people in Ireland have been given a lot of confidence."

Initially, Seán Sorensen did not think he was the right person for the Davis Cup job because he lives outside Ireland and his son is involved. But first instinct gave way to calm deliberation and he accepted the two-year contract.

This year Ireland moved up from Davis Cup division three to division two. The idea is to consolidate that position for a year and then maybe improve the following year.

"The goal is to at least stay there," he says. "A few players, Conor Niland and Louk, are players who are competing in Challenger events and Conor did very well this year with a semi-final in Fitzwilliam. Both are ranked around 300 and if they could break into the top 200, that would make the job much easier."

There is some way to go but maybe one day the son's ranking will be the same as, or better than, that of the father.

As for Doyle at 65 . . . well he's likely to be out there on his own for a while yet.