Murray needs Davis Cup help

The future of British tennis depends on a telephone conversation tomorrow between Andy Murray and Britain's Davis Cup captain John Lloyd.

Lloyd intends to ring Murray as soon as he learns Britain's opponents in the Europe/Africa zone to which they were relegated after the dismal defeat against Austria at Wimbledon at the weekend.

The question will be simple. Do you fancy a trip to such as Macedonia or Ukraine or South Africa to flog your guts out with practically no support from the rest of the team?

The chances are that Lloyd will receive a positive reply from Murray, even to that unappealing prospect, but with the proviso: "I can't keep doing it all on my own."

If, however, Murray decides that playing Davis Cup for a country of perennial underachievement would harm his attempt to become the number one singles player on the planet then Lloyd is prepared to throw in the juniors to nurture a new generation of talent.

Murray's analysis of Britain's problems following the defeat by Austria, in which he won both his singles but saw Alex Bogdanovic lose both his matches and brother Jamie and Ross Hutchins outclassed in the doubles, was searingly honest.

Murray said: "I do have to win both my matches. I felt I dealt with the pressure well but we need to find other ways of winning points and it shouldn't just be my fault all the time if we win or lose ties, because this is supposed to be a team event.

"If we want to be in the world group you have to have a very good doubles team.

"Me and Jamie have hardly played. We are good but not very good at the highest level, so we need to find ways of winning other points rather than just my two singles.

"Everybody was saying when Greg (Rusedski) and Tim (Henman) were around that we needed a doubles specialist, the problem is we need a second singles player as well."

That clearly is not world number 164 Bogdanovic, whose mental fragility looks irreparable. The stark fact is that there are scarce resources to select from.

Which is why Lloyd is prepared to turn to the kids if his phone call with Murray does not go to plan after the draw, for which Great Britain are seeded along with the Slovak Republic, Belgium and Belarus, takes place in Madrid.

Lloyd said: "I'm hoping it will be a home draw or somewhere exotic so we can ask him (Murray) for a week's holiday before. I hope he wants to play for his country. Obviously we want him.

"You don't like going down to the championship, it's not that great. Hopefully he'll think he was part of the team that went down and let's help to get it back up.

"But if it doesn't happen then it's a different kind of focus on the team. Would that be a time to bring in some youngsters and blood them? Then we have a rebuilding thing going on.

"Andy can win two singles against anybody, anytime, anywhere. We have to find a way to win one more rubber. That's my job."

It is a dreadful indictment on the Lawn Tennis Association that British tennis should be in such a mess when Wimbledon rakes in around £30million each year and when sponsorship to the tune of £25million has just been announced from AEGON, largely on the back of Murray's heroics.

But Murray is surely right when he calls on the players to show more commitment.

He said: "Just because I am the best player it shouldn't just be me who is deciding this is the court I want to play on, these are the guys who I want in the team, these are the guys I want practising, these are the coaches, the physios.

"I don't think that is right. The reason why this is a different competition is because the player doesn't make all the decisions. It's not individual, it is a team thing.

"So far John has done a great job as Davis Cup captain. The backroom staff are doing a great job and it's up to me and the players to do our job on the court."

Sounds like he will be up for Macedonia or whoever. The alternative for Britain is a lengthy spell in the nether reaches of world tennis.