i think the gb team will be andy, greg, alan and james.

Cant see alex going to this one, james and andy for the clay doubles, and alan as back up, after all clay is his surface

Howver if lloydy is the captain then either josh or baker will be in instead of alan.  

imoen wrote:

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When will we find out who the captain is?

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Sometime later this month I'd guess.

It looks very much like the new captain will be John Lloyd. If so then Boggo will almost certainly not be selected. If I was captain I'd be tempted to pick Alex because of his winning record against Stakhovsky but as we saw in Eastbourne and Tel Aviv, Davis Cup is a totally different situation to ordinary challengers for Boggo and also clay is probably Alex's least favourite surface. I think it'd be best for Alex if he's not selected this time round as it'd be better for him to spend those two weeks improving his ranking, another Davis Cup defeat could set him back for the rest of the year and the autumn European indoor circuit is one of the best parts of the year for him.

We can't be totally sure that Greg will play as he's already indicated that he'd like to play the ATP tournament in Bejing.

I think Auckland's place is pretty much certain unless Jamie Murray overtakes him by then.

Josh Goodall has to be picked after his phenomenal run in the last month, if Greg's not playing I'd give the 3rd spot to either Jamie Baker or Alan Mackin - both are good clay players. Mackin had a good win in the dead rubber in Eastbourne but Jamie's been absolutely desperate to play for a whole year now.

imoen wrote:

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Thanks.

I really hope it isn't Lloyd, what he says in the commentary box always shows that he doesn't follow the tennis on the ATP the whole year round let alone watching what the Brits on the challenger and futures tour do.

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The knowledge of the lower levels of tennis of so many of the commentators shocks me. When commentating on the Nadal-Kendrick rd2 match at Wimbledon Peter Fleming came to the conclusion that Kendrick would be lacking in fitness and sharpness because he hasn't played many matches this year because he's ranked 237 ! Doesn't the guy know about the challenger tour !!!

However, I think Lloyd is better than some of the others as I think he does follow the Brits [though not to the extent as we do !] as before Jamie Baker made his debut at Queens Lloyd was talking about his game on 5live so he'd obviously watched him play before. The same with Josh Goodall. I've heard that he has been to some challengers and futures to watch them. I have to say that having read his statement on the BBC I wouldn't mind him as DC captain, he seems very pro Jamie Baker and it'd be great to see him given a chance

RJA wrote:

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To be quite honest I can't see Alex having much of a look in under John Lloyd unless he has a major breakthrough. Commentating on Alex's match at Eastbourne Lloyd made no real effort to hide his disgust at Alex's performance and he pretty much said that he would have liked Alex to have been dropped from the final rubber if the score had been 2-2.

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It wasn't just during Alex's match, it was constantly throughout Delgado's match too. always having a dig at Alex, stating how Jamie was putting up more of a fight and showing more spirit. It was probably valid a couple of times, but it did become rather gratuitous.

This tie is very winnable though, just that the consequences of losing would be rather unfortunate.

Lloyd wants Henman for Davis Cup

Britain's new Davis Cup captain John Lloyd says he will try to persuade Tim Henman to return ahead of next month's relegation play-off against Ukraine.

Henman, 31, retired from Davis Cup tennis in 2005 having served the team for more than 10 years.

Lloyd told BBC Five Live: "I would love to have Tim back in any capacity. He would bring class and be a great example to the younger players.

"I'm certainly going to speak to Tim - he'd probably say 'never say never'."

Lloyd was appointed to the role by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the governing body of British tennis, on Wednesday.

His predecessor Jeremy Bates resigned following the defeat by Israel in July.

Lloyd said he also plans to pick younger players in the future, possibly ahead of players with higher rankings.

"My job is hopefully to be able to pick players who will play better than their ranking. I'm going to take a few chances," said Lloyd.

"If we can win this match against Ukraine, which is a huge match for us, next year I will play younger players if I think they have the mental strength to graft out wins.

"There are some players that play above their rankings in Davis Cup and there are others that play below their ranking because they can't take the pressure of playing for their country."

Lloyd, who played in 23 Davis Cup ties for Great Britain between 1974 and 1986, hinted that Alex Bogdanovic would be dropped for the tie against Ukraine.

The 22-year-old was beaten in straight sets by Noam Okun in the opening singles against Israel, despite being ranked 122 places above his opponent.

He was also beaten by Okun when the teams met in Tel Aviv last year and turned down the opportunity to play against Serbia and Montenegro in April because he was not "mentally ready".

"I haven't spoken to Alex yet, but it's going to be one of the first phone calls I make," said Lloyd.

"After his match against Israel, I'd say there's a good chance he won't be playing against Ukraine."

Andy Murray's brother Jamie could join him in the team for next month's crunch encounter, as could Jamie Baker and Josh Goodall.

Count Zero wrote:

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i really dont like lloyd, look at what he says, he wants to build a team for the future, get the young guys going etc, then his 1st action is to try and get tim back.

lets say just supposing tim comes back, what role exactly are the young guys gonna play then?

i think he has just said this to get all the old fuddy duddy henman fans on his side. 

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That's what I thought. I can't see Tim coming back, the number of times he's been asked the question and said no thank you.

I reserve judgement on how Lloyd will be as a captain until after the Ukraine match at least but I really don't like his thinly veiled contempt for Alex, it makes me angry that he seems to be letting personal feelings get in the way of supporting a talented young player.

imoen wrote:

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Count Zero wrote:

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i really dont like lloyd, look at what he says, he wants to build a team for the future, get the young guys going etc, then his 1st action is to try and get tim back.

lets say just supposing tim comes back, what role exactly are the young guys gonna play then?

i think he has just said this to get all the old fuddy duddy henman fans on his side. 

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That's what I thought. I can't see Tim coming back, the number of times he's been asked the question and said no thank you.

I reserve judgement on how Lloyd will be as a captain until after the Ukraine match at least but I really don't like his thinly veiled contempt for Alex, it makes me angry that he seems to be letting personal feelings get in the way of supporting a talented young player.

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I am willing to give Lloyd the benefit of the doubt on this. I presume that he wants Henman to comeback for this tie and help ensure we avoid the nightmare of being relegated. We do need to build for the future but losing this tie would a catastrophe.