JUST AS they do in Britain, sales of racquets and other tennis equipment soar in this country while Wimbledon is on each year. Children who barely look at the game through the rest of year can become fanatics overnight.

For the sport's governing bodies the wave of enthusiasm is a glimpse of what might be in a game that has had its problems over the years. So, just like their opposite numbers at the English Lawn Tennis Association, every year the officials at Tennis Ireland do their best to turn this early summer bonanza into a healthier future for the game on their patch.

The man spearheading Irish tennis's campaign to fight its corner in the increasingly cut-throat battle for hearts, minds and wallets is Des Allen, appointed last year as Tennis Ireland's CEO after more than 201 years as a successful executive with the ESB.

Allen arrives at a time when, on, the face of it, things could be a good deal better. Sponsorship, facilities, and the level our leading players are reaching are all a concern and, as Allen is quick to point out, the difficulties involved in improving things are all too apparent.

"It's the classic chicken and egg situation," he says. "To attract money the game needs a higher profile and status than it has at the moment. To get status you need players and to get them you need money.

Similarly, he points out, a country needs a large number of children to, start playing if it is likely to produce stars of the future. A couple of really successful Irish players on the international circuit would generate that sort of interest amongst the kids, but without the children getting involved at first it is difficult to produce the stars.

These, in a nutshell, are the two greatest problems facing Allen as his first year as the sport's chief administrator in this country draws to a close. While he concedes there is still quite a mountain to climb, he is firm in his belief that some progress is being made.

"Over the last few years we have, built up quite a good coaching system for children here and, within the confines of the funds that we have available, I would think that we are doing things as well as they can be done at this stage.

"A major problem for us, though, has been the lack of competitive practice for our younger players, although this should be helped considerably by a deal that we have Just signed with Adidas, who, aside from supplying kit and that sort of thing are going to fund about 20 prizes.

The TSB have also been heavily involved with the association's efforts to spot talented youngsters early on, and Allen is hoping that this effort, which is modelled on the successful Rover-backed programme in Britain, will start to yield results over the coming years.

In terms of major tournaments there is more mixed news. The Wash & Go Men's Irish Open Championships, a Challenger event which drew some fine players to this country, is in cold storage for the moment. There is better news for the corresponding women's event with increased sponsorship, due to be announced this weekend, allowing the tournament to grow from a $10,000 to a $25,900 prize fund.

"I think that it is possible to do more with women's tournaments at the moment, but we are always looking at the men's event, and bringing it back on a larger scale is something that we are actively considering, although, without a great deal of backing, it would be an enormous risk for an organisation of our size."

More immediately, the priorities are the establishment of a National Training Centre for the game which, it is hoped, would enable Tennis Ireland to persuade some of its leading players to stay here rather than pursue college careers in the United States.

At the moment, though, it is the US scholarship system that provides our best chance of a breakthrough in the rankings after the major disappointments suffered by Owen Casey and Karen Nugent, whose careers have been blighted by injury and illness respectively over the past few years.

"It's never a static situation, though," says Allen. "It's never a case of looking at a particular bunch of players and saying "well, these are the ones who are going to do it for us", you always have to be looking at every level. At the moment we have about 25 of our kids playing on the Eastern European clay circuit, while all sorts of other things are going on at other levels.

"I don't see any reason why, within a few years, we couldn't have a couple of them in each of the top one hundreds. It's just not all that easy to predict exactly when it is that it is going to happen."