There have been more than 40,000 people a day at Wimbledon this year, and at times it has looked as if about half of them are wearing Lawn Tennis Association kit.
The huge national training apparatus has been in evidence here, where yet again British singles wins have been at a premium.
With opportunities inflated by the generous distribution of wildcards, two of them, Liam Broady and Katie Boulter, made the third round. Elsewhere, four other players notched first-round victories and two of them, Cam Norrie and Jan Choinski, are not products of the LTA-dominated system.
On Friday it was hard not to reflect on just how many hopes of a sustained home run were invested in a 36-year-old with a metal hip, one who would have retired years ago did he not possess such incredible discipline and determination.
With Andy Murray contemplating his long-term plans, Britain is still struggling to produce the necessary volume of elite players, from which spring the exceptional few who make it close to the top.
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Andy Murray bowed out of Wimbledon following defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday
Katie Boulter was the last remaining Brit at Wimbledon but lost to Elena Rybakina on Saturday
British No 2 Dan Evans has been brave enough to point this out, as one of the tiny number who has consistently occupied the upper reaches of the sport in recent years.
Both he and Norrie have been maximising their ability, but at 32 Evans is now struggling to maintain his top-30 status, and if anything Norrie has been an over-achiever, all the more admirable for that.
The excitement caused by home wins at the likes of early grass-court season events, Nottingham and Surbiton, has long dissipated. When it came to Wimbledon, the outcomes were predictable.
In any case, what happens at other times of the year is the true barometer of success.
This is the real challenge for the LTA, which according to its latest annual report employs 64 full-time staff in its performance division, financed largely by the £40million-plus paid out to it from Wimbledon’s surplus.
If the LTA’s main board of directors had anyone with serious knowledge of elite tennis, they might be asking whether all the outlay in player and staff support, plus copious wildcards, is delivering sufficient return.
British No 2 Dan Evans has been brave enough to point the failings on British tennis
There are some outstanding British coaches employed by the governing body, but the centralising of the system acts in the same way as the public sector does in squeezing out more dynamic private enterprise, in this case independent academies.
Elite tennis is a ferociously competitive, seven-days-a-week business, and you can only wonder if the system is designed to benefit the staff at Roehampton more than the achievement of results.
There are also questions around the quality of physical training and medical support offered, given the number of players who get injured. As one insider drily pointed out: ‘Strange how our players never seem to pick up small injuries when the grass courts are on and there are lots of wildcards going.’
Still, there is no sign that LTA chief executive Scott Lloyd, who has been surprisingly conservative in his tenure, intends to shake things up in any significant way.
Despite an impressive win over Casper Ruud in the first round, Liam Broady met a similar fate to his compatriots on Friday afternoon
At Roehampton they will think they have mustered just about enough wins during this most scrutinised period to keep things intact for another year.
Although Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu have proved frustratingly injury-prone, both ought to be at the top of the game, though the latter’s career management is a major cause for concern.
Some of the wildcards on show last week have the potential to be solid top 100 players, and there are a handful of promising juniors, none more so than 14-year-old Hannah Klugman, who will play in the girls’ event this week.
But it is about volume, and those on the up are increasingly coming from too narrow a social base. It is a numbers game that the LTA is still struggling to master.
