Wimbledon 2013: American exits put tennis money men in state of panic Contrast this to the kids coming out of countries like the former Yugoslavia, who have limited career options and a whole host of role models proving that there is money, fame and glamour to be had from belting a fluffy yellow ball against a wall. Only last weekend, Victoria Azarenka was reminiscing about rehearsing her groundstrokes 1,400 times in one day during her childhood in Belarus. In Britain, the Lawn Tennis Association has long been obsessed with streamlining the development of our best players into neat pathways, like pedantic gardeners who prune back every stray leaf until they create a sterile, lifeless environment. Yet it is families that produce tennis champions. Often they are unruly families, as Tennis Australia in particular has found. Success in this sport stems from an uncanny, sometimes even unhealthy level of commitment from an early age. The trouble is that the rise of Eastern Europe at the expense of traditional powers like America, Australia and (in the distant past) Britain is creating a vicious economic circle. The TV companies that bankroll the sport want homegrown players, which is where Andy Murray has been such a blessing for the BBC and its Wimbledon coverage. The grand slams still evoke a powerful fascination but other events are struggling. To prevent relative earnings from dropping back further, the ATP has had to ask the four majors to increase the prize money they pay out. Now that Roddick has finished, the biggest earners in American men's tennis do not even play singles. They are Bob and Mike Bryan, the Florida twins who will hold the men's doubles title in all four grand slams if they can win here on Saturday week. Yet this is a total anomaly. No one else, from any country, is making serious money from doubles. I can hear what you are thinking. Not everything comes down to money. Tennis is a beautiful sport and people will always be attracted to play it out of love. Yet it is worth noting that the USA are still producing many fine young female players, including two - Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys - who could still go deep into this tournament. For an American woman, there is no NBA, no NFL, no MLB. But there is the WTA. As Mrs Merton almost said to Debbie McGee, "What attracted you to a sport where you can play for US$118 million of prize-money every year?"