Is the British Davis Cup Team a Good Bet?

Andy Murray has gone public with his quandary over whether he will participate in future Davis Cup matches for Great Britain now they have been relegated into the third tier of the competition. It is sad that whilst Murray can be relied upon to win his matches against most countries players, there is simply no second man that can step up to the level required to make Britain a successful team. In theory, if Britain had another top 50 male player we could potentially win the whole tournament. But the second player, whether it is Bogdanovic, Marray or Dan Evans they can be just as reliable at losing their matches as Murray is in winning his.

Murray not participating would expose the lack of talent we have at our tennis disposal in Great Britain. The gap between Murray at number one and the number 2 player is huge. Dan Evans was ranked 300 places lower than Murray for this match. There is probably no other sport I can think of that we are devoid of top level talent to such a degree as Tennis. The woman’s game has not had a good British player in 10 years. When Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski were the top two players, there was no-one else throughout their entire careers that even came close as a British player.

Murray is now the third best player in the world and his focus is on trying to win Grand Slams and earning the massive money he makes as one of the worlds top players. The other British players rely on lottery funding to pay for them to train full time, whilst they languish in the lower reaches of the Challenger events and Futures tournaments. John Lloyd proclaims that there are a number of prospects in the system like Dan Evans who may progress to be top players but he does not say what constitutes a top player, I would consider only top 50 to be of an adequate standard.

When he was a young player Andy Murray spent most of his time in Spain learning the game and progressed far further than his brother Jamie who remained in the British system. Andy admits that when they were younger Jamie beat him all the time yet now there is no comparison between the two brothers. It is a frustrating time for any British Tennis fan looking to bet on the Davis Cup and support the country. The tournament highlights with cutting clarity the inadequacies of both the players and the training methods of our Tennis clubs looking to develop our young players.

It is impossible that we are simply a bad country for Tennis. When you consider some of the best footballers, cricketers, snooker players and athletes are British the only reason why American dominated sports like Basketball and Ice Hockey and international sports like Tennis produce the top players is because other countries are better at training the players than we are. At some point they are going to have to copy the training methods, psychology and provide more incentive for young players to take up the sport so we can produce some more champions. At least in the woman’s game Anna Keothavong and Laura Robson look like players who can play in the top 50 of the woman’s game. Robson could perhaps go even further, if we dare to dream!

My tips for British Tennis is to follow Andy Murray in his tournaments particularly Grand Slams where you will find value. If Murray decides to play on in the Davis Cup, we should at least get two points from the match! I think Murray will pull out due to the low standard of play at the third tier of Davis Cup and it is up to the rest of the players to gain promotion and make it worthwhile for one of the worlds best players to show up to play. They can allow Murray to carry the Tennis in this country but I think it far more productive to make the other players step up. It may be, for a time, painful to watch.

By Malcolm Clarke