9vicman wrote:

---

Thanks Jon. A perfect summary. Ultimately it's all down to match wins.

I think the pile-on on Leon Smith is a little unfair. He's been a great servant to Britain's Davis Cup team and the team has had a good run. Sure once or twice I have queried the selection (eg Andy Murray playing doubles in Glasgow in 2022) but for me that is an exception rather than the rule. And it's the players who win/lose the matches.

I would still have played Dan today against Argentina - don't think Billy would have beaten Etcheverry - and the doubles could still be pivotal if Finland win, so you put out the team you think most likely to win.

I think Henry and Neal could well prove to be a decent pair, but I assume Leon and Louis Cayer have assessed the practice sessions and made a decision on who clicked the best at this moment in time.

Ultimately this is a bit of a transition year (Andy retirement, Cam injured, Dan out of form), and don't think Leon can be blamed for that. And it's still on their racket Sunday.

-- Edited by 9vicman on Saturday 14th of September 2024 07:00:57 AM

---

 I had a go at Leon yesterday to be honest, on reflection I was too critical. It just felt like an over reliance on Evo when we had other options. 

but the doubles went well and turned out a good call and, per you and Indy, not sure Billy would have done better. 

as to who is best to play Shapo on Sunday? That will be a critical call. Whod you put your money on? 

9vicman wrote:

---

Thanks Jon. A perfect summary. Ultimately it's all down to match wins.

I think the pile-on on Leon Smith is a little unfair. He's been a great servant to Britain's Davis Cup team and the team has had a good run. Sure once or twice I have queried the selection (eg Andy Murray playing doubles in Glasgow in 2022) but for me that is an exception rather than the rule. And it's the players who win/lose the matches.

I would still have played Dan today against Argentina - don't think Billy would have beaten Etcheverry - and the doubles could still be pivotal if Finland win, so you put out the team you think most likely to win.

I think Henry and Neal could well prove to be a decent pair, but I assume Leon and Louis Cayer have assessed the practice sessions and made a decision on who clicked the best at this moment in time.

Ultimately this is a bit of a transition year (Andy retirement, Cam injured, Dan out of form), and don't think Leon can be blamed for that. And it's still on their racket Sunday.

-- Edited by 9vicman on Saturday 14th of September 2024 07:00:57 AM

---

 Pretty much all my feelings. Certainly te the singles selections, and while the doubles did seem a bit strange it was indeed surely a judgement call on what was observed in the past and during this week - and clearly we are largely in the dark here.

Yes, that Andy selection was one of a couple of times I do recall being particularly critical of Leon and he was a bit thin skinned then as well ( the other time was wsy back in the 2014 QF in Italy and the Ross Hutchins selection but not trusted to play the doubles in front of an unwell Andy ). But on his overall tenure to my mind he has more often got it right than wrong such as once when Dan was successfully catapulted I'm from nowhere to great success.

Leon has been there a long time and it could be time to move on but not because of how he has been doing his job. He has had missing and out of form players here - hardly his fault

steven wrote:

---

JonH comes home wrote:

---

Thanks Smudge - going to be a really interesting couple of days.

As it happens, it looks like the situation is quite straightforward because of this loss. If Argentina beat Finland by any score today, we will need to beat Canada 3-0; sets won or lost wont matter. If Finland win 2-1 today, we can also beat Canada 2-1 and get through. Finland win 3-0 and we can get through with a 1-2 loss, in this case we would be in a three way tie for second and sets won and lost would matter.

In essence, we just need Finland to win today and then we might stand a chance - if Argentina win, its a long shot! Doable, but a big long shot!

---

I was going to wait until after the Finland - Argentina match to look at this properly, but I have since checked the rules and you're correct that at this point, there's still a scenario where we could qualify with a 1-2 loss if Finland win 3-0, but sets won and lost wouldn't matter in that case - rule 59.2.3 makes it clear that if the first 3-way tie-breaker (% of rubbers won) eliminates one of the teams, then you go back to looking at the H2H result for the two remaining teams, so our win against Finland would clinch it.

---

Youre right, for sure - Id double checked myself after writing it but got distracted and didnt update my comment!

long and short is we really just want Finland to win and then things become much more possible - Argentina win and weve just got to demolish the Canadians!  

Vasa has started with a break- stop the match now!

Just read the report of yesterday's tie in the Mail online and saw Mike Dickson's replacement referring to 'the youngster Billy Harris'.  Presumably, he hadn't heard of Billy until this year.   Mike Dickson would have known all about Billy.