Davis Cup - Euro Africa Zone I Play-offs - GBR v Poland 18-20 September 2009

spud · Challenger qualifying

RE: Davis Cup - Euro Africa Zone I Play-offs - GBR v Poland 18-20 September 2009

spud · Challenger qualifying

Oh yeh- Hoss the Boss, you still think i was talkin like a potato head?

MD · Social player

There is no way Murray should play Euro Div 2 Davis Cup. The other players need to show whether they have the ability to get GB back into the first division (or at least survive in Div 2).

It can't be about one man. Murray has already risked his whole season to try and get us through but there's no point if the others aren't good enough. It's not a question of Murray not being committed. When the performances pick up, then Murray should come back.

The other thing with Murray not being there is that it removes the 'revolving door' aspect of the team. We can't keep doing Andy and Boggo / Josh / Dan / Next one in as it doesn't do anything for confidence. I also think Dan may have been struggling under the pressure of knowing that Andy had risked injury to play this match.

Dan didn't play well but he is a talented lad and should not now be cast aside. If we take Murray out of the equation there are probably about four players all trying to get one of the two single spots and there's a chance to actually build a team there. Am I trying to find positives in a negative situation? Maybe, but Dan looked gutted on his way out and I'm sure there are others who would want to play against countries of a similar standard and seek to win matches for GB. We are where we are, the Division doesn't lie.

As for Murray, I thought he did really well today and showed great determination to come back. He looked a different class to everything else out there over the past three days. Hope with some treatment and r&r he can make it back for the indoor season and especially the 02. The atmosphere is going to be immense!!!

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I only saw from half-way through the second set, but he was definitely disappointing in that. I thought he played much better and showed much more fight in the third - pity he didn't start off like that, if he hadn't got so far behind at the start there just might have been a different result.

If Lloydy resigns I do hope Rusedski doesn't take over, I seem to remember him saying he would like the job sometime. He would probably be good at motivating but I'm not sure about his tactics, he changes his mind with monotonous regularity - from where I started listening he was calling for Evans to finish points off at the net but when he tried that and failed, Greg said he should have stayed back and ground the point out. . .

HossTheBoss · Strong Club Player

Sorry mate got that one wrong.

HossTheBoss · Strong Club Player

Cox not good enough,Willis no commitment,Eaton not good enough.Goodall strugled to win notts futures,in fact if illingworth had not choked when serving for the match goodall wouldnt have made the semis ,i should know because i was there.

alex03maccy · Grand Slam Champion

lloyd has to go, you couldn't find anyone less inspiring. i'd actually rather murray was sat there with dan. ward is no.2 and hasn't had a chance so if andy plays, it's him next. if andy doesn't ward no.1 with eaton as no.2, and flemski in the dubs, ross can b*gger off.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

I hope Andy doesn't play the next event. Dumb Lloyd he's not done anything.

Ward was ill hence why he didn't play.

The next tie sould go on form/ranking. I'd expect Ward to be in and between Josh/Dan for the second singles spot and put Flemski in for the doubles. Havign one decent doubles player play with Andy does not work.

spud · Challenger qualifying

alex03maccy wrote:

lloyd has to go, you couldn't find anyone less inspiring. i'd actually rather murray was sat there with dan. ward is no.2 and hasn't had a chance so if andy plays, it's him next. if andy doesn't ward no.1 with eaton as no.2, and flemski in the dubs, ross can b*gger off.

I'd defo go with that, only problem is, the court speed is going to be bad for one if Ward and Eaton are ever in the same team (one prefering slow the other fast), which is a shame, i think they are the 2 most deserving of the spots.

I dont see why Eaton was left out of this one, he loves the pressure, played brilliant earlier this year on his debut- and on a slow hard court. Won a match, which is more than most brits can say, so im pretty dissapointed as he hasnt even been mentioned.

indiana · Tennis legend

Basically just not good enough.

Very flat nervous performance for 2 sets, then managed to raise his game a bit in the 3rd set, accompanied by Prysiezny getting pretty nervous ( err. Andrew castle to him - "you didn't look nervous at any stage " - bollocks )

The set was the there for the taking but he ultimately to an extent outchoked the Pole.

Although I did always make Dan favourite to win, I hadn't realised until earlier today ( and my earlier post ) just how little Dan had achieved since his Jersey Challenger title so not the greatest of shocks.

It is so sad that we just haven't got back-up and I get bit fed -up hearing about the "exceptional" class of 1990 ( some folk are easily satisfied ). I said before that Dan was the only player currently in the rankings that I could possibly see making the top 100 and today showed he has a hell of a lot to improve to make that. The 1990 class is only "exceptional" by being not quite as relatively crap as some other years. Roger Draper dared point to this year as how things were on the up.

No, it's now probably something like the 1993 / 94 generation before there can be genuine hope of unearthing another remotely top world class tennis player.

Dan argaubly deseved to be given his chance, noone else exactly was sqealing out for a place or an obvious pick. We just do not have a decent reliable no 2, we have much of a muchness which we can all make different arguements as to who should be chosen at any time. And he did fight well in the 3rd set, he certainly didn't give up, he just wasn't good enough ( partly through nerves and I think I did underestimate the effect the whole occasion might have on him ).

If you at least fight, try your best and are just not good enough and / or nerves take over too much you don't deserve to be pilloried. British Tennis deserves to be pilloried for the fact that it had to come down to a young player ranked outside the top 300 in the world.

Who knows what Andy will do fo the future, he has shown a lot of commitment here ( which I was really pleased to see since I have not always been convinced here ). To ask him to put in the time and effort into competing in however many rounds are involved next year I think asks too much and it may anyway well be better to let other players have more Davis Cup experience. Maybe Andy could play the promotion match ( if we get to that ! )

As for Lloyd, not wanting to turn this into a football forum but OUT, OUT, OUT !

I totally accepty he hasn't had really top players lately ( other than Andy ) to work with, but I just don't like the way he goes about his business. He seems to make half his team annoucements on radio shows, sometimes appearing with potential members of the team.

Also Andy seems to have a big say in who is picked. Some may think that good, but what is not good is it seems to be widely known usually who Andy wanted in the team ( and seems to get ) which must be brilliant NOT for the morale of other players and any future team bonding. Andy's opinion is at the very least worth listening to but surely must be kept much more in house, indeed just between him and LLoyd.

LLyod lets these things go on and I have great doubts about his motivational skills. Whatever he said to Dan to get him starting well today sure didn't work.

The immediate future is not good, as I say we are really looking to current juniors for ultimately top players. That's my I think realistic view, but I so hope that I am wrong and one or 2 players ( eg. Smethurst, Rice, Cox and still cetianly Evans ) can really kick on. I would so love to be shown up as getting this wrong and being too negative.

indiana · Tennis legend

PS : Always Boggo of course, who I still think theoretically is another ( even now ) potential top 100 player.

But I do accept this will probably never happen and also understand why he was not considered for this Davis Cup tie.

Very possibly would have won that 5th rubber though ( which would then no doubt have done him a great deal of good )

Ratty · County player

Some random mutterings:

Why do we need a Davis Cup captain at all? If Annacone was there watching, why wasn't he sitting on the bench instead of Lloyd? He has far more credibility as a coach, and at 46 (against Lloyd's 55) could be better able to connect with a youngster.

I'll bet the Polish team stayed at a Travelodge, and the GB team plus umpteen LTA freeloaders were at somewhere extremely swish.

It would be interesting to know whether British Davis Cup players have a worse than average (and statistically significant) record of losing to players who are lower ranked. And if so, why is that?

I usually enjoy Greg Rusedski's commentary. But he really seemed to have it in for Dan Evans. Do they have a history, I wonder?

indiana · Tennis legend

By the way might have helped ever so slightly if Dan's GB shirt actually fitted him properly

OK, I'm not going to say that's wot did it smile

Smidster · Challenger level

Dissapointing but at the end of the day we just weren't good enough. Dan never looked like he was going to make enough of an impression on the Poles serve.

More importantly is what happens next. I'm guessing the people we could face next March are:
Lithuania, Bulgaria, Monaco, Ireland, Slovenia, Macedonia and either Finland or Cyprus

The worrying thing is I can see a couple of those giving us a real challenge

Shhh · Challenger level

A few points not mentioned above.

During Andy's match, Andrew Castle grab a few words with Dan Evans. Dan said that neither Andy or John Lloyd had spoken to him about his match. Andy I can understand but JL? Surely they should have chatted the night before or over breakfast?

Has anyone here discussed the cost of a Davis Cup team (I haven't read every page)? Each player receives about £3k I think? But JL is on a hefty salary, then there's the coaches and others involved....all require hotel accomadation and other expenses (and I presume salaries). JL flies about to watch players here and then and, so the list goes on. The cost of having a Davis Cup team must be well into six figures, maybe very much more, I dont know.

I am not suggesting we scrap the team but, should we throw so much money at it. How many tournaments could be staged with the money for example. Even if we had won today, how much does it benefit "British Tennis" and does it justify such an expense?

Andy does seem to have a lot of influence over the team. His brother played when not in form previously. Ross, his friend, hasn't been in great shakes but was a shoe in despite having Flemski regulary playing together (who recoded a win over the Bryans dont forget). We DID lose the doubles, I dont think the option was really considered though. Now it appears, reading different papers, that Andy has a good report with Dan (more so than other players). I am not suggesting that Andy literally picked the team but, a team should be just that, a TEAM. I'd be all for taking on the next time Andyless, maybe asking him to help train and prepare (without taking part in the matches). At least the four picked would then be of the same level and may develop the required bonding and strength brought to these shores by both Austria and Poland.