The next DC captain ... (update: JL has now resigned)

philwrig · Hall of fame

RE: The next DC captain ...

Josh · Challenger level

I've seen him at Queens qualifying once, and never any Futures or at Wimbledon qualifying.

Maybe he can claim expenses on a flight half way across the world but he can't on a 2 hour drive up to Birmingham. I guess if the LTA pay for him to fly over to Jersey he might spend a few days there hmm

steven · Tennis legend

Odds are being quoted on this now, apparently, including some very silly ones:

4/6 Greg Rusedski
6/4 Tim Henman
4/1 Paul Annacone
12/1 Mark Petchey
20/1 Pat Cash
33/1 Tony Roche
33/1 Brad Gilbert
33/1 David Felgate
33/1 Jeremy Bates
80/1 Boris Becker
125/1 John McEnroe
250/1 Annabel Croft
250/1 Virginia Wade
500/1 Sue Barker
1000/1 Cliff Richard
1000000/1 anyone from BT.net

(ok, I added the last one in myself

)

steven · Tennis legend

Of course, the last captain to get us to the Final, Paul Hutchins, wasn't a big name player at all - Ross Hutchins' dad never got past R1 at Wimby or R3 of any slam and had a 0-2 record in DC singles, so maybe they won't appoint anyone on the above list.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Someone earlier suggested it had to be a Brit so unless Annacone has something up his sleeve that he hasn't told us about the bookmakers money is pretty safe there.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

now Miles Mclagan's name is being thrown in (by the mail) maybe not a bad idea? certianly he is probably closer to some of the players as well.

indiana · Tennis legend

I wonder though if it's hastle Miles would quite happily do without.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

how well does Murray pay, its a bit of extra dosh after all, and the lta may be thinking his involvement may help keep Andy there too.....

philwrig · Hall of fame

A quote from Petchey about the DC and Andy.

If Lloyd is replaced, the LTA should consult Murray about Lloyd's replacement, as Murray's is the opinion that matters. If you want Murray to want to play in the Davis Cup, you have to talk to him and involve him.

And a full article from Jamie who should be back playing soon.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/daviscup/7408075/Be-patient-Davis-Cup-success-will-come-says-Jamie-Baker.html

indiana · Tennis legend

Much as I really like Andy as a player, I'm getting a bit fed up with this consult Andy / keep Andy sweet / Andy is the opinion that matters stuff.

Being beholden to Andy helped get JL in a mess, not impressed with that from Petchey and would slightly worry me if he ended up as Davis Cup captain.

He is a player, not some God, who hopefully when it really does matter in the future at a higher level will be prepared to turn up and play Davis Cup tennis for his country. Anyway, from what I have heard re his previous suggestions about players he's not as smart as he sometimes seems to think he is.

Fair enough, maybe hear some of his views among others.

steven · Tennis legend

Yes, I thought Petch was a good candidate for the job until I read that. Obviously Andy is (or could at some stage be) very important, but the captain needs to be strong enough to think for himself and tell Andy he's wrong if necessary.

steven · Tennis legend

We've never had it this bad ... or have we?

Believe it or not, things have been worse. The only other time we had to play a EAZ G2 relegation match was after not 5 but 6 defeats in a row.

At the end of 1991, the top-ranked Brit was Jeremy Bates, ranked 168 (i.e. below where Boggo is now) and from the start of 1992, we lost 6 ties in a row, albeit not all under the same captain.

In Feb 1992, Bates and Petchey (when I mention names here, it's the singles live rubber players) got thrashed 5-0 by France in a WG R1 tie in Bayonne (c.f. Argentina in Buenos Aires in 2008) and we lost a WG playoff tie 4-1 in New Delhi that September to go down to EAZ G1.

In 1993, Bates and Petchey lost 3-2 away to Hungary on clay but in those days, if you got a bye through R1 then lost in R2, you didn't have to play a relegation tie, so they survived in G1.

In 1994, the team of Bates and Wilkinson lost 4-1 away on clay in Portugal, at which point Tony Pickard was replaced as captain by Bill Knight for the relegation tie (which is how Pickard avoided 5 defeats in a row), but Bates and Petchey lost 3-2 at home to Romania in Manchester. The Romania tie was the first one that Tim Henman played in, teaming up with Bates to win the doubles in 5 sets.

In 1995, in the equivalent of this year's Lithuania tie, Henman and MacLagan got thrashed 5-0 by Slovakia on clay in Bratislava, making it 6 losses in a row (and yes, Tim did lose his first two DC singles rubbers at the grand old age of 20, older than Evo is now, and like Evo, he was ranked outside the top 200 at that point, though he had briefly been inside it) and plunging them into a EAZ G2 relegation battle for the first (and before this year, only) time.

That relegation match was at home to Monaco in Eastbourne and Bill Knight was replaced as captain for it by David Lloyd. Rusedski was now available to play for GB and he and Tim teamed up for the first time to win 5-0.

In 1996, they beat Slovenia 4-1 without Tim, Ghana 5-0 without Greg, and Egypt 5-0 with both of them to make it back into EAZ G1, lost to Zimbabwe in 1997 when neither of them was available, beat Ukraine in Kiev to stay in G1 and then beat Ukraine and India in 1998 to get back into the World Group, making it 7 wins in 8 ties and setting up the enthralling but ultimately unsuccessful tie against the USA in Birmingham in 1999.

With Andy better than Greg, if Boggo finally manages to make it into the top 100 at some point (with all the confidence that would be likely to bring - and remember someone like Gicquel didn't make the top 100 until he was 29, so it's certainly not too late for Boggo yet) or one of our youngsters suddenly puts on a spurt like Tim did in his early 20s, who's to say we couldn't put a string of victories together again. It doesn't seem likely now, but it didn't seem likely in the depths of despair of the mid-1990s either!

Count Zero · Tennis legend

i can do that:

Oi Andy NOOOOOOOOOO!

you may be a world class tennis player, but if you come round my house, with your fancy drop shots and your chased down lob turn and hit winners and put a tennis ball through my new Everest double glazing. i'd say Oi Murray NO you're not on centre court now and you'll behave in a respectable manner!

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I'm a massive Andy fan and have been since he was a junior, but:

He should NOT be playing while we are down at this level and

While not playing, he should have no input whatsoever in team selection.

clayfan · Lower Club Player

Andy should have no influence for the moment on team selection, agreed. The reality is we will need Andy to play in the future and it helps if they talk to him about a successor if JL goes. It would be disastrous if he turned his back on DC because he didn't get on with the captain. It would be bad to have Miles as captain though. I always thought that Andy's main coach was Andy and that with Miles he had someone who would not pressurise him. In DC I fear Andy might still call the shots.

I much appreciated that horror trip down memory lane provided by Steven. We tend to think of Bates and Petchy as our better players but not in DC it seemed! JL is over in Indian Wells mainly because I think he lives in California and is probably doing some media work. One of the problems he had with DC was his non residency. At one time it would be laughable to have our DC captain going round the futures tournaments anyway. Absolutely no point in him pointing the sat nav at Tipton. He knows he is on the way out, and if not there is only Evo who would really interest him. And then not a lot!