Davis Cup

[Sir David Gray]

British tennis plumbed new depths of despair today as we lost 3-2 to Poland.

We will now be competing in the second division of the Europe/Africa division next year.

Both British points came as a result of two straight sets singles wins for Andy Murray.

However, Murray lost in the doubles yesterday alongside Ross Hutchins. Then Dan Evans (world number 302 and British number five) lost both of his singles matches as well.

His first defeat came on Friday against a guy ranked only 40 places above him in the world as he lost in straight sets and he also lost today against a guy ranked 678 in the world (the Polish number six), again in straight sets.

There is something seriously wrong with tennis in this country. We have a population of 60 million people, we have first class indoor and outdoor facilities all over the UK, millions are spent on these facilities and coaching etc. and yet we can produce just ONE player that is even competing in top level tournaments, never mind actually winning them. The British number two (James Ward) is barely inside the top 200 in the world rankings.

Every player, who is currently in the top 20, comes from a country that is playing in the World Group, except for Andy Murray.

To show just how bad Britain actually is, Spain played their "B" team against Israel at the weekend and still managed to beat them after their top two, Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco, were rested. That "B" side consisted of Juan Carlos Ferrero (21 in the world) and David Ferrer (19 in the world). If Britain played their "B" team, we would be playing guys ranked about 400 in the world.

I would not blame Murray in the slightest if he decides to walk away from the Davis Cup team after this latest embarrassment. He should concentrate on his own tournaments first and foremost. You can't really expect someone of his stature to go to the likes of Bosnia or Turkey to play and risk an injury that keeps him out for months and ruins his own career.

But on the other hand, given the otherwise shocking state that British tennis is currently in, if Murray elects not to play, there are no guarantees that the other players that we have at our disposal would be capable of even staying in that division, so it may mean yet another relegation next year, which would see us coming face to face with massive tennis nations like Andorra, Zimbabwe and Madagascar in the third division.

The LTA should hang their heads in shame.

[PC Stamp]

British tennis plumbed new depths of despair today as we lost 3-2 to Poland.

We will now be competing in the second division of the Europe/Africa division next year.

Both British points came as a result of two straight sets singles wins for Andy Murray.

However, Murray lost in the doubles yesterday alongside Ross Hutchins. Then Dan Evans (world number 302 and British number five) lost both of his singles matches as well.

His first defeat came on Friday against a guy ranked only 40 places above him in the world as he lost in straight sets and he also lost today against a guy ranked 678 in the world (the Polish number six), again in straight sets.

There is something seriously wrong with tennis in this country. We have a population of 60 million people, we have first class indoor and outdoor facilities all over the UK, millions are spent on these facilities and coaching etc. and yet we can produce just ONE player that is even competing in top level tournaments, never mind actually winning them. The British number two (James Ward) is barely inside the top 200 in the world rankings.

Every player, who is currently in the top 20, comes from a country that is playing in the World Group, except for Andy Murray.

To show just how bad Britain actually is, Spain played their "B" team against Israel at the weekend and still managed to beat them after their top two, Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco, were rested. That "B" side consisted of Juan Carlos Ferrero (21 in the world) and David Ferrer (19 in the world). If Britain played their "B" team, we would be playing guys ranked about 400 in the world.

I would not blame Murray in the slightest if he decides to walk away from the Davis Cup team after this latest embarrassment. He should concentrate on his own tournaments first and foremost. You can't really expect someone of his stature to go to the likes of Bosnia or Turkey to play and risk an injury that keeps him out for months and ruins his own career.

But on the other hand, given the otherwise shocking state that British tennis is currently in, if Murray elects not to play, there are no guarantees that the other players that we have at our disposal would be capable of even staying in that division, so it may mean yet another relegation next year, which would see us coming face to face with massive tennis nations like Andorra, Zimbabwe and Madagascar in the third division.

The LTA should hang their heads in shame.

Murray's committment to playing for his country is commendable.
He would arguably be doing his Davis Cup colleagues a favour by walking away from it and allowing some of the lower grade rubbish a chance to play at a level which is probably still higher than most of them will ever reach!

[ancienthibby]

Whichever member of the LTA thought that Dan Evans was capable of playing in the Davis Cup, should be charged with child abuse.:agree:

[Wilson]

I think maybe he should still turn up. For one it is probably beneficial for the rest to spend a bit of time around a world class operator.

He could play the first singles rubber. Get GB a point on the board and show the others how its done. Inspire a bit of confidence. After that it is down to the rest of the squad.

I felt sorry for Murray doing his damndest over three games and the rest just didn't step up to the mark. He'd be a mug, IMHO, to keep going as he is.

Turn up. Help out. But demand more from his team mates. It is the way forward.

[Sir David Gray]

Murray's committment to playing for his country is commendable.
He would arguably be doing his Davis Cup colleagues a favour by walking away from it and allowing some of the lower grade rubbish a chance to play at a level which is probably still higher than most of them will ever reach!

I see what you're saying here but do the rest of them really deserve to represent their country?

Playing for your country in any sport is supposed to be an honour and a privilege and a reward for hard work and good results. In Britain's case, if Murray doesn't play, we will be handing GB jerseys to people that are barely good enough to qualify for Challenger events and instead of rewarding hard work and good results, we would be rewarding mediocrity.


I think maybe he should still turn up. For one it is probably beneficial for the rest to spend a bit of time around a world class operator.

He could play the first singles rubber. Get GB a point on the board and show the others how its done. Inspire a bit of confidence. After that it is down to the rest of the squad.

I felt sorry for Murray doing his damndest over three games and the rest just didn't step up to the mark. He'd be a mug, IMHO, to keep going as he is.

Turn up. Help out. But demand more from his team mates. It is the way forward.

I don't think it would make a blind bit of difference if they were rubbing shoulders with Murray on Davis Cup duty.

There is something fundamentally wrong with the mentality of British tennis players. They are just losers, to be perfectly honest. They don't have the ambition, the workrate or the bottle that is required to reach the top of the sport.

They are quite happy getting around the 200-250 mark in the world rankings, which allows them regular use of the first class facilities at Roehampton and once a year they receive their customary wildcard which allows them a free passage into the first round of the main draw at Wimbledon, before being hammered in straight sets and sent home before you can say "strawberries and cream". A prime example of that is Alex Bogdanovic. That guy has received a wildcard at Wimbledon for the past eight years and not only has he never been past the first round, he has only managed to win three sets out of those eight matches.

Everything is handed to them on a plate in this country and I don't believe that they have the same motivation that players from the likes of Croatia, Serbia and Russia have as these guys and girls simply have to win in order to escape poverty and they want to succeed to pay back their families who have invested so much money to get them to where they are today. Over here, they are quite comfortable in a financial sense as most of them come from a wealthy background so it perhaps doesn't mean as much to them.

They do not want to put in the hard graft that is required to be a winner. Tennis, unlike almost any other sport, requires extremely high levels of dedication because you are doing it yourself. You don't have team mates around you all the time who can cover for you if you have an off day and, although you have a coach, you don't have a manager who will kick you up the backside if you mess about, your coach will just simply walk away from you. If you don't perform in tennis, you don't get the results and you won't be letting anyone down, besides yourself.

Although it would be noble of Murray to play for Britain next year, I can't help but think that it would be pointless playing with these wasters as they are only dragging him down with them.

[Danderhall Hibs]

How have they "plumbed new depths"? Don't we get relegated every 2nd season? I'm sure I remember us getting pumped in this tournament on a regular basis and that phrase being used quite regularly.

[Sir David Gray]

How have they "plumbed new depths"? Don't we get relegated every 2nd season? I'm sure I remember us getting pumped in this tournament on a regular basis and that phrase being used quite regularly.

It's the first time since the mid-90's that Britain has been relegated to the third tier of the Davis Cup and it's only the second time ever. We normally go up and down between the World Group and group one of the Europe/Africa division.

Incidently, we will face Lithuania in our first match next year and if we win, we'll face the winners of the Ireland-Turkey tie and if we lose, we'll face a relegation play off against the losers of that tie.

[Danderhall Hibs]

It's the first time since the mid-90's that Britain has been relegated to the third tier of the Davis Cup and it's only the second time ever. We normally go up and down between the World Group and group one of the Europe/Africa division.

Incidently, we will face Lithuania in our first match next year and if we win, we'll face the winners of the Ireland-Turkey tie and if we lose, we'll face a relegation play off against the losers of that tie.

I see. I didn't realise we were as bad as that.

A one-man team can't win the Davis Cup.

[PC Stamp]

I see. I didn't realise we were as bad as that.

A one-man team can't win the Davis Cup.

That's the point I was trying to make earlier. A selection of the others HAVE to play to make up a team. Even if Murray plays as part of the team there's a better than average chance the team will still lose so why should he bother himself? He's done his bit by turning up regularly and it hasn't helped the also rans get any better by being around him.

Some of the lesser lower lights however may improve a little by getting a chance to play against better quality opposition than they are used to.

I read the other day that the LTA spends around £25M a year on tennis development. One would have to ask WTF are they spending it on because outwith Murray and the emerging Laura Robson, there's hee haw else on the horizon!

[bingo70]

That's the point I was trying to make earlier. A selection of the others HAVE to play to make up a team. Even if Murray plays as part of the team there's a better than average chance the team will still lose so why should he bother himself? He's done his bit by turning up regularly and it hasn't helped the also rans get any better by being around him.

Some of the lesser lower lights however may improve a little by getting a chance to play against better quality opposition than they are used to.

I read the other day that the LTA spends around £25M a year on tennis development. One would have to ask WTF are they spending it on because outwith Murray and the emerging Laura Robson, there's hee haw else on the horizon!

It depends when they started spending £25m a year, Tennis in the UK is a mess, it'll take years for them to sort it out.

BTW not entirely comfortable with that last statement i made, Tennis in Scotland has probably never been so successfull with the Murray brothers and Baltacha, if England started pulling their weight we might be doing ok :wink:

[Sir David Gray]

It depends when they started spending £25m a year, Tennis in the UK is a mess, it'll take years for them to sort it out.

BTW not entirely comfortable with that last statement i made, Tennis in Scotland has probably never been so successfull with the Murray brothers and Baltacha, if England started pulling their weight we might be doing ok :wink:

Obviously Andy Murray has been a massive success but unfortunately his brother, Jamie, has not really followed up his Mixed Doubles success at Wimbledon a couple of years ago with any real improvement. In fact, if anything, he seems to have got worse.

He has been ranked outside of the top 100 doubles rankings for the past two months and he has really struggled to find a permanent partner, playing with no fewer than nine different players this year. He has won a couple of minor tournaments in the past month or so, so that is a boost but other than that, it has been a bit of a disaster for him.

He has also been dropped completely from the Davis Cup team and hasn't played for Britain since he and Ross Hutchins lost in straight sets to Austria almost exactly a year ago.

I do feel sorry for Elena Baltacha, though. She does have a bit of skill about her but she has had unbelievably bad luck with injuries and illness throughout her career which have hampered her progress.

As you say, England need to buck their ideas up. No doubt Laura Robson will be the darling of the English media from now on and all the pressure will be placed on her shoulders.