Wimbledon '97: Wilkinson back in the Davis Cup fold
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Your support makes all the difference.There were at least two happy campers squelching in the grounds here yesterday. Chris Wilkinson, having settled his differences with Britain's Davis Cup captain, David Lloyd, was named in the squad to play Ukraine in Kiev the weekend after Wimbledon.
Wilkinson had been in exile, virtually self-imposed, since protesting about the Lawn Tennis Association's decision to import Greg Rusedski from Canada in 1995.
The 19-year-old Martin Lee, of Sussex, will also travel with the team, Jamie Delgado and Mark Petchey having been dropped from a squad headed by Tim Henman and Rusedski.
Andrew Richardson, who defeated Byron Black in the tie against Zimbabwe at Crystal Palace in April, keeps his place, along with Neil Broad, the doubles specialist.
"David Lloyd has spoken to me, and everything is fine," said Wilkinson, whose five-set victory on Tuesday against Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman, the No 17 seed, impressed the captain as much as everyone else.
"I told Chris at Queen's that he was coming [to Kiev]," Lloyd said, "and now he's played himself into the reckoning. That match yesterday was his best win. He's a good pro, but people playing for any team have to want to play for their team, and he does.
"He has played very well over the last three weeks and he now desperately wants to play for his country again. I've always spoken to him, but the words Davis Cup were never brought up. It was important for him to say, 'Yes, I want to play for my country', which he did.
"There's never been any, 'He doesn't talk to me and I don't talk to him' stuff. My job is to run the Davis Cup team to the best of my ability. I can have rows with people, and next day we're the best of friends."
The difficult part for Lloyd was to inform Petchey that he had lost his place after Tuesday's impressive win against Jan Kroslak, of Slovakia. "Mark has played very well for me, and I've told him that it is not the end of his Davis Cup career."
On the subject of a new doubles pairing, Lloyd said: "Tim and Greg are automatic choices to play the singles. They could do very well together as a pair, but Neil Broad is a world-class doubles player and has already performed well in partnership with Greg in the Davis Cup."
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