the telegraph are really putting a lot into tennis coverage at the moment. its a shame that as soon as the DC/LTA furore dies down tennis will once again be forgotten

indiana wrote:

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I hear what LT says about potentially overcondemning and the pack culture.  But so many of us individually and collectively have pointed to so many different things that JL does not appear to do well, and actually struggle to find those things he does do well.  Even JL seems to other than "Folk don't see what I do behind the scenes".  Well, I had hoped behind the scenes he travelled about to watch how players were getting on.

I am sure too that he is not a terrible person, folk have indeed said that he is a nice guy.  Other than that I seem to have missed out on anyone telling of his practical merits as a captain.

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I'd like to hear what his merits actually are. He must have some, and he also must have been picked to be captain in the first place for a reason. I do feel that probably at this stage it is time for a change and there are probably others who could employ good skills to the job, but what with all the flaws being pointed out I'd like to be able to weigh up his strengths.

*nods* I'm just wary of "pack behaviour", Indy. I've seen it all over various tennis boards, where people just jump on someone (usually a rival player to the one who's board it is, that's not the case here I know) with no logical reason, and then the vast majority of others all pile on the bandwagon until they're slagging the person off so much that it's a gross exaggeration, condemnation of a caricature if you will, which is of course easier than admitting that a real person you don't like has their good points as well as bad. In fact I think that most people are WAY too quick to judge and condemn ("oh, he's arrogant!" seems to be a particularly frequent cry which I've heard applied to just about every single player under the sun!!!) which is completely silly because you don't know what that person is really like, you don't know the full circumstances sometimes, and sometimes it can be you that has totally misread what they were doing! Even if somebody did do something wrong - what so that blackens their name forever in your eyes?! Puh-lease! People make dumb mistakes all the time, it doesn't make them terrible people, it just makes them human.

I suggest you read my post again. I'd like to see your quote of me saying that people on this board "slagged him off as an arrogant prick". Maybe you'll realise that the second paragraph of my post was an observation on the mud-slinging about various tennis players that goes on on player-forums, not in any way an intended defence of John Lloyd or a commentary on this forum. If you think I'm in support of John Lloyd staying in his current position of Davis Cup captain, you are mistaken.

-- Edited by LadyTigress on Thursday 11th of March 2010 06:33:08 PM

According to the Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/daviscup/7416722/Tim-Henman-rules-himself-out-of-GB-Davis-Cup-job.html we can forget about including Tim in the reckoning.

Andy has no intention of letting go of Miles either -

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article7060402.ece

Im sure it will end up with Greg as captain.

This would mean Wardy would be selected as Gregs literally his coach now.

And to think some of us were under the impression (after he appeared to walk out in a sulk during the 5th rubber v Austria) that Andy didn't care about the lower-ranked Brits ...

The players should have a say in the appointment as I don't feel the guys at the top of the LTA know what it's like to be on court during Davis Cup.

"If you take someone who's ranked 300 or something, a Dan Evans or someone - he is under a huge amount of pressure when he's playing in the Davis Cup so he'll be nervous.

"Or Alex Bogdanovic who has lost seven Davis Cup singles matches. If he plays again it's so important for him to feel comfortable with the coach."

Murray is not too bothered who does become the next Davis Cup captain - as the fourth best player in the world, it makes no difference to him who sits beside him during matches provided they know to leave him alone.

But it is the younger, more inexperienced players who matter to the Scot - and they need all the help they can get.

He added: "I don't really mind who's on the court with me but I don't really want them to be in my ear the whole time.

"It's what the other guys who are playing, what they want, what they feel they need on the court, that's what I am saying.

"I don't want to pick who the captain will be but I do want the players to have a say."

From:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/tennis-news/2010/03/13/my-coach-miles-maclagan-will-not-be-taking-over-davis-cup-team-insists-andy-murray-86908-22108181/