Davis Cup - Euro Africa Zone Group II R1 - GBR v Turkey, 9-11 July 2010

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

RE: Davis Cup - Euro Africa Zone Group II R1 - GBR v Turkey, 9-11 July 2010

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, Madeline one way or another something is sadly wrong here.

Either JL is telling porkies or as you say why the heck was he not involved, surely this is a decision that should have been getting carefully discussesd among various people, most certainly including JL who "wasn't too sure who actually made the decision"

Well, at least my utterances every so often, ever since Eastbourne was selected, that in my view this tie should never have been scheduled on grass, but on hard courts seem actually to have a fair amount of support.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

this is an odd one. i don't think JL was involved with this decision cause he was out fairly soon, and i never really saw it properly announced it just seemed to be.

Even without Muzza, Boggo & Evo (unless he does something miraculous in the next few weeks being forced into pre-Q's really shows what they currently think of Evo) we should surely still win this tie, the Turk no2 is just so weak. Of course if it goes pear shaped in the dubs could be worrying.

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

Perhaps it's because they thought with all the wild cards, unlike the turks, our players would have had plenty of practice on grass in the weeks leading up to-- oh no, wait...

clayfan · Lower Club Player

It has already been reported Boggo does not wish to play. (How hard did they try to persuade him?) It is very doubtful Andy will play if he has a grueling Wimbledon. Ironically he might do if he has a stinker and loses in the first round! Interesting to see if that option is kept open when the teams are announced.

All the other guys would not be favourites to beat Ilhan. But they have a chance of doing that never-the-less. All the other guys would surely beat the Turkish second string, be it Akkoyun or Zorlu. There are no "young Turks" coming up to surprise us so hopefully no repeat of Lithuania. Which leaves the doubles as the effective decider. Flemski would be heavy favourites to beat Ilhan and normally Ergunden(but the other singles players could easily be substituted.) Only DC nerves or injury could surely stop a GB win. With Baker the top string it would fall to Ward to beat their second string in the 5th rubber. He should surely do that. Shouldn't he?

British_is_Best · County player

Maybe I am being blindly optimistic but I really think we will have a tough time losing this match. Frankly any 2 of probably our top 15 or so players could and should beat the Turkish no 2 on grass, Flemski really should win the doubles comfortably, especially after their success in Lithuania. Ilhan is also far from unbeatable by either Ward or Baker to be honest.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

Murray has confirmed he will sit out the tie.

LadyTigress · County player

Not too surprised by that news. I doubt we'll see Andy back in the team again until/unless we can get back into Group I at least.

I think it seems likely that the team, barring injury, will be Flemski, Ward and Baker. Certainly I think not playing Flemski would be a mistake, for reasons discussed in the Lithuania tie thread - we need a solid, regular Brit pairing to get the job done, it's no good bringing in Ross or Jamie when they've been playing with non-Brit partners throughout the year, and then shoving them together and expecting them to do well.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

when was the last time both GB 1 & 2 played in the same tie! Austria 08?

LadyTigress · County player

I believe so, Count!

steven · Tennis legend

Count Zero wrote:

when was the last time both GB 1 & 2 played in the same tie! Austria 08?

Yes - and that's the last time we had a decent chance of beating a reasonable team, in the sense that I still think we'd have won the 5th rubber had Alex not picked up an injury before day 3, or perhaps even if JL had had some singles cover to bring in for that rubber after the injury occurred (e.g. Baker, who had beaten Peya at Queen's, or one of the Brits who was a reasonable grass court singles and doubles player) instead of picking a specialist doubles team, which of course lost anyway.

However, if we can't beat Turkey without Andy, then it really isn't worth him playing to help us get up to a higher level, so he's right not to play and give more lower-ranked Brits a chance of gaining experience of winning a live rubber.

LadyTigress · County player

steven wrote:

However, if we can't beat Turkey without Andy, then it really isn't worth him playing to help us get up to a higher level, so he's right not to play and give more lower-ranked Brits a chance of gaining experience of winning a live rubber.

Exactly. I wouldn't want or expect Andy to be back until we're Group I. However, I would like to see Boggo playing. I don't blame Boggo for choosing not to play though - what else can he do, given his circumstances?

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Totally agree. They cut his funding because he wasn't ranked highly enough so he has to put all his effort into getting the ranking higher.

-- Edited by Madeline on Wednesday 16th of June 2010 03:48:44 PM

spud · Challenger qualifying

Ward seems to like playing at Eastbourne, I think he's a certain for the DC team. No other brits can really show off what they can do on grass now, so i presume it will be Baker, even if he puts in a poor performance.

clayfan · Lower Club Player

Evans is creeping up again. He seems to be having a better grass court season than Baker. Could we really field the same team that lost to Lithuania do you think?