Davis Cup 2013 - E-A Zone Group I R2 - GB v Russia - 5-7 April

PaulM · Tennis legend

Davis Cup 2013 - E-A Zone Group I R2 - GB v Russia - 5-7 April

daisy · County player

I confess that I'm very disappointed Andy has opted not to play. He was proud to play in the Olympics (and win the Gold medal) and I'd have thought he'd want to follow that up and do his bit for his country. I bet the LTA would have wanted him too as well with all the fantastic PR opportunities for British Tennis. Apart from anything else he must surely realise by now how much support his presence would garner and help lift the rest of the team to a probable win. OK, as yet we've not seen how Fleming/Marray will make out as a team but those 2 guys are thorough professionals and I'm sure they'll give the next 2 months together a good shot with the intent of doing well at DC.

Andy has rattled on about how great it is to represent his country BUT he ducks out of such an obvious chance! Whilst Henman took a couple of years break from DC he also played a lot of ties, as did Rusedski, and between them we kept going. With Andy playing 2 singles and Fleming/Hutchins/Marray in doubles we'd have a very good chance of making it to world group this year. If Andy is about targets surely winning the Davis Cup for GB would have to be one of them?

I always admired the likes of McEnroe for committing to representing his country so much (and winning Slams at the same time!) and seriously believe Team Murray have missed a trick here. Apart from the walkabout in Dunblane and the WTF appearance this would have given another group of dedicated tennis watchers a chance to watch Andy play live.

I rather think his coach has had a hand in this decision. Lendl's ambivalence toward DC is well known and he seems keen to ramp up Andy's performance on clay courts - hence the "preparation" for clay during the first 2 weeks of April. Frankly if Rafa is back and fit the French Open is going to be won by him or Novak Djokovic

Apparently he's said he'll be available to play in September ... but if he fails to defend his US Open title will he feel like playing a DC tie somewhere overseas the week after?

-- Edited by daisy on Thursday 31st of January 2013 05:13:58 PM

daisy · County player

The DC tie will be held at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry. Andy Murray is not playing. Team probably Wardy, Baker, Fleming/Marray.

The AM forum will be doing a 'block booking' again so we can be very vocal in support of the GBR lads. If anyone wants to risk sitting with us you'd be very welcome ...

RJA wrote:

Colin and Jonny have only ever played two tournaments together. They won back to back futures in the Czech Republic in December 2008 without dropping a set.

Here's hoping those 2 can build up a good working relationship and post some wins over the next couple of months since they appear to be the likely team for Davis Cup. They're playing Montpellier, Rotterdam, Memphis, Delray Beach ... (per a tweet from Colin) and hopefully I/Wells and Miami.

steven · Tennis legend

I can't say I expected Andy to play (and I understand why he isn't keen to) but I still held out some hope that he would, especially now that he has broken his slam duck.

What worries me if he won't even play a home tie like this is that the chances of him playing DC at all (let alone enough for us to have a realistic chance of making some progress) in the next few years seem pretty slim, given that most of our ties are likely to be away (since this will make 7 in a row and 14 of the last 17 at home) and opponents we play away will no doubt be picking the surface with the prime objective of discouraging him from playing in the tie.

spud · Challenger qualifying

To speak truthfully, that is dreadful from Andy... again.

Davis Cup, where you are genuinely playing for your country should be one of the biggest proudest moments of your career. Like Steven said, in breaking his Slam duck, he has basically achieved everything in his career and is definitely cemented in the top 3/4. This would have no effect on his schedule and seeing the likes of Novak, Rafa and Roger proudly representing their countries... i just don't get it?? I actually find it quite selfish in not utilizing his talents for the country to progress in the competition

steven · Tennis legend

PaulM wrote:
Shame Andy isn't playing, but does this not affect his eligibility for Rio?

Not really. Players have to make themselves available for 4 ties between Sep 2012 and Rio, I believe.

Drew · Feb 1, 2013

Disappointed Andy not playing but not surprised. Very tough without him.

daisy · County player

scottie1 wrote:
Madeleine -- Lee Childs beat Davydenko at Wimbledon maybe he should play british no 2 lol

Last I saw of Lee Childs (aka Chunky) was at the Boodles a couple of years ago.

He's the pro at Stoke Park and stood in for another player who was ill at the last moment.

Chunky had a lot of support from his female tennis clients but sadly didn't fare so well against Verdasco.

smile

-- Edited by daisy on Friday 1st of February 2013 03:57:55 PM

scottie1 · Futures level

i think Andy has had enough of carrying the Davis cup team. There is no world class No 2 singles player and he is still required to win two singles matches. We are not good enough for the World group until we have a better or top 100 no 2

Spectator · All-time great

Just to point out that it was I, not Mr Murray, who opened up that line of thought. He was firmly in the former camp. So not his fault if we've gone down that route.

And my argument, in fairness, related specifically to Russia in the first instance. That said ... I did generalise in point 3 in a way which, I would agree, was probably inaccurate. Thanks for pointing that out. But that's not really relevant to this tie ... and he had already said he would play in September anyway.

Interestingly, depending on results, I think the number 2s in September will in some cases be much worse, as players who aren't playing for the 1st round of WG will play to prevent relegation if their teams were to slip now ... eg Federer, Ferrer/Nadal/Almagro, etc. So it could be quite competitive at that point. And we'd be glad of Mr Murray!

-- Edited by Spectator on Friday 1st of February 2013 04:40:31 PM

-- Edited by Spectator on Friday 1st of February 2013 04:43:05 PM

-- Edited by Spectator on Friday 1st of February 2013 04:45:17 PM

Spectator · All-time great

I think this may actually be a sensible decision. Whatever his emotional views on Davis Cup -- and I wouldn't wish to speculate on them -- the reality is:

(1) If Russia field Youzhny, Tursunov and Davydenko, it's unlikely that we would get a second singles point. Not impossible, but unlikely. And the doubles, while it is more than likely that we would win given the excellence of our top doubles players, wouldn't be a certainty. Little is a certainty in Davis Cup doubles unless you are the Bryan Brothers.

(2) it would, therefore, be a not negligible possibility that GB would lose, despite Mr Murray's presence ... in which case he would have given up a week potentially training on clay to accomplish a result which, from a Davis Cup point of view, was the same that would have been accomplished had he not been there.

(3) if GB did win, and then had to play a World Group match in September, he would then be obligated to play again, as there's no way we could play an ex-WG team without him. So committing once would, in effect, be committing twice ... and if we won there, ad nauseam.

(4) all of which wouldn't necessarily be a reason not to play, but for the timing. Mr Murray has not accomplished all that he wants to in his career. Yes, he wanted to win a Slam ... he also wants to be more highly ranked, and he wants to win more Slams. I'm no Steven, but it appears to me that this Spring is fairly crucial. Mr Murray's points are very heavily concentrated from Wimbledon onwards: he will be defending a final, then losing the Olympic win points with no replacement potential, then defending the USO win. That's almost half his points. So if he wants to make sure that he doesn't place himself under enormous pressure in the second half of the year not to lose ground (let alone moving up to number 1 or 2) he has to do well in the Spring Masters tournaments -- including the clay ones -- and Roland Garros. And he needs as much time as possible on clay.

(5) the Murray effect is considerable, and having him play in Coventry would have been great (those of us outside London and Scotland don't get many opportunities to see him). Point taken! But it's arguable that more people yet watch him on television and even more people just follow his big moments (Slams and ranking rises). So it's conceivable that for the general public his accomplishing his career goals is actually better for GB tennis than his playing Davis Cup. (Nothing like a contentious statement to start the morning!)

I'm aware that there are arguments against: Davis Cup and playing for your country matter; it would probably be better for GB tennis players to have him on the team; it would be inspiring for people to be able to see him live; etc. But I wouldn't be too harsh ....

spud · Challenger qualifying

Spectator, we are talking about '5-7 days' out of his schedule, which would only be concentrated on clay court prep. With Andy's standard of tennis at the moment, this would have little, if any effect on how his clay court results went.

You then talk about the WG match in September, well hold on, Murray has just said he will play that tie, so who do you think he'd rather play? A team that actually gives him more of a run or some team containing players he beats and counts the points he loses on one hand?

Again, players like Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have played ties in worse places in their schedules and its hardly effected them

daisy · County player

Extracts from todays Times ... http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/tennis/article3674421.ece

More than two months before the tie is played, Andy Murray has announced that he will not take part in Great Britains next Davis Cup venture. At the insistence of Ivan Lendl, his coach, the finest British player of several generations will be working his socks off in preparation for the French Open and representing his country plays no part in that.

Even the offer to lay a clay court inside Coventrys Ricoh Arena, which will make its debut as a Davis Cup venue in April, was not enough to persuade Lendl of the virtue of his charge playing two best-of-five set matches

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I totally agree with scottie1 and spectator.

Until we have a second player who could have a snowball's chance of beating the likes of Youzhny and Davydenkov, let alone the standard of players IN the World Group, it is a waste of time trying to get into the World Group - we would be out of it again pdq.

scottie1 · Futures level

Madeleine -- Lee Childs beat Davydenko at Wimbledon maybe he should play british no 2 lol