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Sheddie


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Draper scorns Davis Cup criticism
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7630499.stm

"It's easy to start firing the blame, but John's a good captain with the support of the team," Draper said.

"We had 25,000 people over the three days so it's a nonsense to say it wasn't a great atmosphere," he told BBC Radio 5 Live

Draper refused to accept that the mentality of the British team had been an issue.

"That's certainly not the case," he told 5 Live. "We lost to the better team.

"It's a bit like saying Portsmouth lost 6-0 to Manchester City because the Portsmouth bench weren't cheering loud enough.

"It's easy to start machine-gunning around the blame (but) we got relegated to the better team.

-- Edited by The Shedman at 11:57, 2008-09-23

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Sheddie


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This was a bit of a response to Jonathan Overend's hard-hitting article, slating the LTA in particular for not doing enough to market and promote the tie in the week leading up to it......and also choosing the wrong venue, he felt the tie should have been at one of our many big indoor arenas in the country

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7630499.stm

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seagull


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"John's done a fantastic job,"

I would hate to see where we would be if he had done a bad job!

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indiana


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Err, is this not a slight contradiction in terms  ?  :

"John's done a fantastic job," said Draper. "He took some gambles over the weekend which didn't pay off. "

Fantastic folk make decisions / take gambles, which do pay off.

I am not really taking a dig at Llyod, sometimes you have to take gambles.  But, Draper makes himself look foolish by over-egging the pudding with the word "fantastic", for whicjh I have seen no great evidence.

Re Draper's replies to comments on the attendance, he also said that it was about the highest attendance from all the play-off matches. Man speak with forked tongue !  I would suggest that he is perfectly well aware ( though I sometimes wonder how aware he is ) that Wimbledon was proably the biggest arena used for any of the play-off matches.  I would guess that the other venues were fairly full of passionate fans.

-- Edited by indiana at 19:40, 2008-09-24

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Ratty


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I'm not quite sure what the Davis Cup captain is supposed to do.

... apart from giving support and encouragement on court to the players. Didn't see much of that going on with poor Boggo.

And one of the things that makes the likes of Ferguson & Wenger great sports managers is that they NEVER criticise their players in public. The arse-kicking goes on behind the scenes, and that's where it should stay. Draper and Lloyd should learn a lesson from them.



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Ratty


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What Lloyd might have said in his post-match interview:

"I'm very disappointed for Alex. He totally outclassed Peya in the first set, but then pulled a hamstring and found it difficult to move. By the fourth set he was really struggling, but kept battling away even when he was 4-0 down.

People misunderstand Alex. He's as passionate about playing for his country as Andy, but just doesn't show it in the same way.

Alex is the second best player in Britain, and if he's fit, he'll be playing in the next match."


But hey, I guess it's easier to join in with the lynch mob ...



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Count Zero


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i agree ratty, that exactly what JL should have said, unfortunatly the blame game side of british tennis runs so deep its practicaly institunioalised.

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indiana


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Totally agree.

I was having a bit of a joke at poor Alex's expense in another thread just now ( yes, I should be ashamed ! ).  But, just a bit of fum  smile  Maybe it's time British tennis lightened up and stopped the look after no 1 / blame game.

Unfortunately, Ratty's suggested interview approach just shows far too much common sense.

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The Hoose


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Ratty gets my vote for Davis Cup Captain too.

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