This is the picture that shows why the North-East will never produce a Wimbledon champion. As Lleyton Hewitt was winning the Wimbledon men's singles final on Sunday, tennis courts at Darlington's South Park were lying neglected and, to all intents and purpose, unused.

Badly rutted and missing nets, the courts are in a terrible state of disrepair, when children are desperate to imitate heroes such as Tim Henman.

While the British No 1 had a grass court in his garden when he was growing up, North-East youngsters faced with poor quality facilities are turning their backs on the sport.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the sport's governing body in Britain, is pumping £13m a year into the game's grassroots in an attempt to improve facilities and encourage more schoolchildren to play the sport.

It is a slow process, as illustrated by the sorry state of South Park - which, admittedly, will soon benefit from a National Lottery-funded regeneration.

But the LTA is adamant its substantial investment in youth, which begins with children as young as four playing mini-tennis, will eventually reap rewards.

National director of development Roger Draper said: "We are aware of the popular perceptions of tennis, which are enhanced by Wimbledon, with the grass courts, strawberries and cream, the all-white outfits and rule books that read like a book of law. But I spent a day in Durham and Cleveland recently and most of the kids thought it was a fun, cool sport.

"Graeme Clarkson, who is the LTA's development director in Durham and Cleveland, has been doing some tremendous work during the past couple of years.

"The number of juniors playing in the area has increased by 15 per cent in the past 12 months.

"We are introducing indoor clay courts at Middlesbrough, which will allow kids to play 52 weeks of the year, and we are investing in coaches as well.

"But we are having to turn round 100 years of neglect in the grassroots of the sport in this country, and it will take five to ten years to make a real difference.

"Our problem is that we are not just judged on how many kids we've got playing in Durham. We have to get Wimbledon champions and players in the world's top 100."

Mr Clarkson, who is based at the Puma Centre, in Sunderland, insists he has witnessed first-hand a wind of change sweep the region's tennis community.

"I've seen a big shift in the culture among a lot, if not all, clubs in the North-East," he said.

"We have had the advantage of setting up new clubs in local authority park sites, and we are also going into schools and getting a good response."

These are noble gestures, but as long as courts such as those in South Park remain derelict and deserted, so tennis's hopes of becoming a true people's game will remain a distant dream.