Murray must quit Davis Cup team - for the good of his country

Posted: Monday 21st September 2009 | 11:06

James Toney Sportsbeat

ANDY Murray should step down from Davis Cup duty next year - in the national interest.

ONE MAN TEAM: Andy Murray showed his commitment by playing in Liverpool despite a wrist injury (Getty Images)

Great Britain's relegation to the third tier of world tennis - following a third consecutive home defeat against Poland - condemns John Lloyd's side to games against the likes of Monaco, Ireland and Cyprus next year.

Travelling to such outposts - they will find out their first opponents when the draw is made in Paris on Wednesday - will do Murray no favours in his ambition of becoming the first British player to win a Grand Slam since 1936.

And his individual success is doing more for tennis in this country than the Davis Cup, which despite Britain's proud heritage - they've won nine times but haven't been to a final since 1937 - hardly figures in the national sporting consciousness.

Now is the time for those that sit beneath Murray to finally step up and bridge the gulf between the British number one and his domestic contemporaries, calling them rivals is stretching the definition of that word.

They cannot be reliant on the world number three walking both his singles matches and then hoping they can scrape together one more win between them.

Team competitions aren't won by one man and this weekend's harsh lesson in Liverpool told us that.

Let's blood the youngsters and give them the experience that is currently being denied them by the huge shadow of Murray, who, through no fault of his own, sucks the oxygen from every tie, just by his presence.

Using world rankings as a barometer, Dan Evans, ranked just outside the top 300 - should have beaten Poland's Michal Przysiezny, the number 648, with ease.

But Przysiezny's experience of Davis Cup matches - an arena so removed from the Challenger and Futures' Tour that it's virtually another sport - proved the telling difference.

Evans simply wilted as the pressure was cranked up and surrendered tamely in three quick-fire sets.

It's more than a decade since a player other than Murray, Tim Henman or Greg Rusedski won a live Davis Cup singles match.

And unless that damning statistic changes, the hopes of a return to the World Group - which looks as far away as the Blue Square Premier from the Premier League at present - are non-existent.

Comments

davis cup

Submitted by paul smith (not verified) on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 11:43.

Britain's only world-class tennis player simply has to play. If his presence suffocates the rest of the team and harms its performance, find a way to stop this happening, rather than picking lesser players. In essence that is a management challenge, not a tennis one.
Davis Cup has always been one of the key barometers of the strength of a nation's tennis, arguably more so than the performances of an outstanding individual on tour.
The world's top players, with a few exceptions, have always represented their countries in tennis' Ryder Cup, and have been respected for doing so.
Did Rory McIlroy enhance his standing with the sporting public (and current or future sponsors)with his ill-advised opinions a few weeks back? His rapid volte face during last week's Vivendi Trophy suggests not.
John McEnroe, a man whose status in tennis is still some way ahead of Andy Murray, was a loyal servant of the US Davis Cup team. Granted he had better players around him, but surely that is simply a red-herring.
Suggesting Murray is excluded from the competition because his team-mates are no good seems bizarre in the extreme. Think of George Best or Ryan Giggs or Dwight Yorke, or the period in the late-90's when Brian Lara was West Indies cricket.
Surely British tennis should use Murray's presence to generate momentum. Play the home ties on grass, find him a doubles partner he enjoys playing with and challenge the other players to contribute to the team and support him.

Andy Murray, Davis Cup, etc

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 09/22/2009 - 22:17.

It would make sense to give Davis Cup experience to young players at a level where they can reasonably compete. The downside is that hardly anyone would pay to watch them without a well-known name like Murray, Henman or Rusedski in the team. Commercial sponsorship might also be less forthcoming.
I agree that replacing John Lloyd would not be a quick fix for the long-standing problems of lack of facilities (esp. indoor courts) and costs that dissuade British youngsters from trying to become professional tennis players. The few who make the grade generally have to go to Florida or Spain to develop their skills. The regular LTA coaching re-organisations seem to have made very little difference.