Peter Keen appointed Interim LTA Performance Director

Keen, who was awarded a CBE in 2012 for services to Sport, has a wealth of high performance coaching and leadership experience having attended five Olympic Games as a GB team official and coached numerous cyclists to international honours. He will be seconded from Loughborough University where he currently holds the position of Director of Sports Advancement and Strategy. Previously he held Performance Director roles at British Cycling and UK Sport, the latter position giving him a unique insight into the high performance programmes of all of the UK’s Olympic and Paralympic sports throughout the build-up to London 2012. Peter’s association with the LTA began in January 2015 as a high performance adviser.

LTA Chief Executive Michael Downey said, “The search for a Performance Director has been very encouraging to date with many impressive candidates identified. However, in order to deliver the widest possible candidate list, we realise we need to wait until after the Summer Olympics in Rio. Therefore, we have decided to put an interim leadership solution in place given the importance of advancing Great Britain's High Performance agenda. Peter made perfect sense since he brings a wealth of relevant experience and can seamlessly assume the role having helped develop our new high performance strategic plan earlier in the year. He is also very active in a consultancy role helping to shape a robust programme for screening and supporting this nation's very best players. We are most appreciative to Loughborough University for letting us borrow Peter in this regard.”

Keen said, “I am hugely excited by the opportunity to take on this interim role. In the short time I have spent with the leadership and performance teams at the LTA, I have been impressed by their collective desire to move forward, think out of the box, and above all their aspiration to build a world-leading High Performance Programme that delivers at all levels of participation. Working with such passionate people, both in and outside of national organisations, is very appealing to me. I am looking forward to making a positive difference to the British Tennis High Performance landscape in preparation for the arrival of a permanent Performance Director later in 2016.”