The sorry state of British tennis was placed firmly in the spotlight in Vilnius on the weekend, when an Andy Murray-less Davis Cup team was humbled by Lithuania.
Lithuania. A nation who, with their 3-2 win over John Lloyd’s team, equalled their best performance in the Davis Cup by reaching the second round of the Europe/Africa Zone Group II.
Britain. A nation that has won the Davis Cup nine times (although the last time was in 1936) and which has slumped to new lows with its loss to Lithuania. The unavoidable reality is that a loss against Turkey in their next tie will send the Britons into the basement that is Group III of the Europe/Africa Zone.
To put the magnitude of the loss in further perspective, the LTA operates with an annual budget of around £60million while Lithuania’s tennis is developed on a shoestring budget of about £90,000.
A nation that with that amount of money being pumped into the sport should be a tennis giant was dwarfed by a country that should have fallen at its feet. Something has clearly gone very, very wrong.
“I share the deep disappointment and frustration at this result. Five defeats in a row is unacceptable,” said LTA Chief Executive Roger Draper following the loss.
“So I have asked the LTA Player Director, Steven Martens, to review last week's performance and result, and report back to me and the LTA Main Board as soon as possible. That review needs to be swift and decisive as it is clear some real improvements need to be made."
Murray’s absence further highlighted what was already obvious: there’s simply no-one waiting in the wings to fill his shoes for Great Britain.
Was Murray wrong to leave his Davis Cup team to its fate? It’s hard to place too much blame on the Scot’s shoulders. After all, he showed up in Liverpool with a dodgy wrist to play Poland in the Group I play-offs last September and his two singles rubbers weren’t enough to carry the side across the line.
Should we fix our sights on Lloyd’s captaincy? Again, what was the former Australian Open finalist to do with the players he had at his disposal? Albert Costa inherited the dream job of captaining Spain after they’d won the 2008 Davis Cup, and his side defended that title last year, but Lloyd finds himself facing a nightmare with Great Britain.
The difference is simply this: depth. Murray is British tennis at the moment. He’s the cherry, but there’s no cake underneath. It’s worth noting too, that the LTA can’t take too much credit for Murray’s development into one of the world’s elite tennis players. The world No. 4 headed to Spain to hone his game at the age of 15.
By contrast, Spain – without three top-20 players in their tie against Switzerland – still managed to make it through their opening World Group tie. And if Costa has a full playing list to choose from in the quarter-finals, a complete line change would not theoretically be out of the question.
It’s a luxury Lloyd is simply not afforded, despite all the cash the LTA has at its disposal.
So, what about Draper himself? After all, this is the man who has called the shots at the LTA since 2006. In that time, shouldn’t he be able to point to some exciting young talent rising through the junior ranks to bolster the Davis Cup stocks in the near future?
Former Davis Cup captain David Lloyd is one who has called for Draper to step down in the aftermath of the Davis Cup debacle.
But if Draper stays, it must be to head a new approach to developing young British male talent though the ranks in the UK. Whatever uncomfortable truths are contained in that review must be addressed, regardless of who is at the helm of the LTA.
This British team may be on a slippery slope into the Davis Cup wilderness, but if any good is to come of it, it must be that the next generation of players developed into a strong enough unit to claw their way back into the upper echelons of the competition.
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