Britain needs Murray more than ever for Davis Cup lift

Published on Sunday 8 March 2009 22:03

ANDY Murray's desire to represent Great Britain will not be diminished by their recent fall from grace, according to close friend Ross Hutchins.

This weekend's Davis Cup defeat to Ukraine, Britain's third straight loss in the competition, means John Lloyd's team face another year outside the elite World Group.

And should they fail to beat Poland in a Euro/Africa Zone Group One play-off in September, they could even find themselves scrambling to stay in the second tier of the competition.

Murray's absence with a virus from this weekend's tie at Glasgow's Braehead Arena proved once and for all that Britain simply do not possess the strength in depth to cope without him.

Captain Lloyd also admitted that even with the world No 4 on board, his team were not certain to record the three straight victories needed to return to the World Group.

Murray could be forgiven therefore for losing his enthusiasm for the competition.

But Hutchins, who partnered Colin Fleming to a courageous doubles defeat at the weekend, said: "He's keen to play, that's for sure. He loves playing for his country. I saw him last week; he wasn't well. And he will be back to play.

"People always say 'selfish' and all this stuff. But if he was fit, he would've played this tie and I think he wants to play the next tie. There's no doubt in my mind he's a good guy to have around in the team."

On the evidence of this weekend's tie, which Ukraine won with a day to spare, Britain need Murray just to survive in Euro/Africa Zone Group One.

The team contained three rookies, only one of whom – local boy Fleming – appeared to have what it takes to compete at this level.

But Lloyd believes even fellow debutants Josh Goodall and Chris Eaton, ranked 192 and 383 respectively, could be capable of winning rubbers in the future.

He said: "Our job, and all the guys here with the experiences they've had, is to take the level up a notch so that we can grind some of these matches out."

To give them the best chance of doing so, Lloyd must surely abandon his policy of setting up courts to Murray's specifications and instead tailor them to suit his weaker players.

A fit and firing Murray would have cruised past the likes of Sergiy Stakhovsky and Illya Marchenko on any surface, while Goodall and Eaton were handicapped by the slow court at Braehead.

When challenged on this point, Lloyd said: "You can look at it that way. You'd be nuts not to discuss it and talk about it with your No 1 player.

"It wasn't like he said, 'It's either that or I'm not playing'. He felt that was the best chance to win the three rubbers and I respected that. I thought that was the way to go."

Lloyd did hint that the choice of surface against Poland would take into account the needs of the team as a whole.

"I'm not really concerned about Poland at home wherever we play," he said. "But we have to think of the other members of the team as well and how we're going to get a result."

Ukraine No 1 Stakhovsky put some of the blame for Britain's quickfire defeat this weekend down to their selection policy.

He said the visitors were buoyed by Lloyd's decision to hold play-offs to determine places on his team instead of automatically picking British No 2 Alex Bogdanovic.

British No 3 Goodall was first up yesterday but he could not prevent the hosts falling 4-0 behind as he tumbled to a 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 defeat by Sergeyev.

Goodall is ranked more than 200 places higher than the Ukrainian but he made an inauspicious start, losing his opening service game. The Briton hit back to level but some wayward forehands in the tie-break cost him the first set.

The second began just as badly for Goodall, with Sergeyev taking a break lead that he did not relinquish. It therefore fell to Eaton to prevent Britain suffering a whitewash.

The big-serving 21-year-old showed he has a taste for the big stage by reaching the second round of Wimbledon last year, and he began in impressive fashion against Marchenko, taking the first set 6-3.

But the world No 224 upped his game at the start of the second set to break immediately on his way to a 6-4 success.

A tie-break was needed to settle the match in the third, and it was Eaton who made the decisive break at 5-4 this time, with a huge return setting up two match points.

The Surrey player missed the first but a wayward return from Marchenko sealed a 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7/5) victory for Eaton.

DAVIS CUP RESULT

Euro/Africa Zone Group One tie between Great Britain v Ukraine at Braehead:

&149 Friday:

Josh Goodall lost 6-7 (2/7) 6-7 (5/7) 6-7 (5/7) to Ilya Marchenko; Chris Eaton lost 3-6 6-3 3-6 to Sergiy Stakovsky

&#149 Saturday:

Colin Fleming & Ross Hutchins lost 6-4 3-6 6-3 5-7 6-4 to Sergei Bubka & Sergiy Stakovsky

&149 Yesterday:

Josh Goodall lost 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 to Sergiy Stakovsky; Chris Eaton bt Illya Marchenko 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-5)

&#149 Final score:

Great Britain 1, Ukraine 4