aparently JL asked Jamie B when he will be back playing competitivly, Jamie said Jan. Lloyd told JB the tie will be in Scotland and thats why Jamie entered Glasgow last min.
i think that confirms that Lloydy really wants baker to be his number 2, even if come march he is ranked out side the top 300.
i also think he has said he wont take a doubles pairing again, so its up for grabs between ross and jamie m. i think jamie m will be favourite tho. hopefully the decsision will be a pure tennis related one.
that still leaves the 4th spot, i doubt it will be boggo as he probably wont want to spend time bench warming, esp if he is to be sitting there as a back up to a player who could well be ranked 150 or so places below him! maybe josh will finally get his chance? or maybe they will go for Evans believing him to be for the future.
__________________
Count Zero - Creator of the Statistical Tennis Extrapolation & Verification ENtity or, as we like to call him, that steven.
Im 41 and proud....and will happily meet up with you Indiana !
As for the team.
I hope it is :
Andy Murray - shoe in of course.
Jamie Baker - Please stay fit and hopefully gets a few wins between now and then.
Ross Hutchins - I predict he will be the GB No 1 doubles player by then. It would do Jamie no harm to site one out and see how hungry he is to get back in !
Daniel Evans - Unless another one of our younger crew step up dramatically I can see Dan being the number 4.
Josh, Slabba, James Ward and Chris Eaton cannot be discounted and would have good reason to be in with a shout but I think Bloomers and Boggo wont be considered.
I dont think it would be fair to play Dan ahead of Josh, Slabba, James and Chris but I think the LTA are looking to groom young Evans into the DC slot. Just a hunch.
What is about Jamie Baker that makes everyone regard him as our second player? I'd definately pick Goodall and Bloomers ahead of him, unless it is on outdoor hard. I can't see Boggo ever winning a five set match so I really wouldn't pick him again unless he gets to top 100, especially as his results go into meltdown after a DC tie. Jamie has won three matches since March but still everyone is saying lets picks him lets pick him.
My team would be: Andy Goodall or Bloomers Ward or Slabba Highest ranked doubles specialist at the time
i think its cause its pretty obvious Lloyd rates baker highly. and he is the one who picks the team.
i agree would be interesting to see jamie M's reaction if he were to get dropped from the team.
i hope boggo gets left out as well. its going to be indoors so we will have to see who performs best over the early indoor season, even perhaps this early winter season and none of them are doing them selves any favours at the moment with their results.
__________________
Count Zero - Creator of the Statistical Tennis Extrapolation & Verification ENtity or, as we like to call him, that steven.
I'd expect Baker to be in the squad as the tie is in Scotland and the fact that Lloyd rates him, but unless he starts to put the wins together at whatever level, it's very difficult to argue that he should be the 2nd singles player, especially with the tie indoors where he isn't as good as Boggo/Goodall etc.
To be honest though, the 2nd singles player shouldn't matter much if Andy plays, as he'll win both his singles rubbers, Stakhovsky will win his match on the Friday, and he should win the doubles, meaning that the 2nd singles player doesn't have a lot to do, unless we do mess the doubles rubber up, so maybe throwing in Evans for experience is the way to go, and then change to Baker etc in a 5th rubber if it is still live then.
my team for the cup would be Murray Marray j murray and hutchins
i think marray as a wild card, these Ukraanions wont cope with this serve and volley style of game,they will think its some sort of witch craft or a russian iron curtian secret?????
I agree with Wolf, I sadly think Baker is a bit of a spent force and will take a long time to get back to the level he once was. He has no real weapons so will have to play himself into form (after the illness) which will take at least a solid year of back to back competitions.
Dan Evans - I think Evans has got to be involved somehow and deservedly so. With no player than Andy being able to produce a singles win, blooding Dan would help push him towards challenger level competition. Dan has as good a chance as any of the other Brits to shock Bubka Jr or Marchenko. DAN EVANS FOR 2ND SINGLES PLAYER!
Hutchins & Murray - I agree that Hutchins and Jamie Murray will also be involved but shouldn't be at the expense of another singles player. One or the other should be selected and on form, it should be HUTCHINS. Although both are solid doubles players, neither compare to Andy Murray regardless of whether he's playing regular doubles which means Andy should be playing all three rubbers.
Bogdanovic - sadly can't get the job done on the Davis Cup stage and Eaton (hope I'm proved wrong) seems to have done a Flanagan and had one good week in the grass court season and will drop back into the 500's.
Goodall - I would select Josh over Bloomers and Slabba as he has performed better at Challenger level in general and has greater firepower but Evans for me.
I saw this a few days ago and it's certainly going to be interesting to see which was Lloydy goes. Just looking at it again, I wonder why OEM says that only Josh and Chris have played 5-set matches when Bloomers has as well - he's won one against Berlocq, nearly won in the Wimby FQR last year and has played a couple more at Wimby too, notably not looking completely outclassed by Haas or Hewitt, even though he didn't have a hope in hell of beating them.
__________________
GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!