Features

British tennis hits new low

Author: John Harris
Date: 25/09/2009
Tennis betting

Lithuania is the destination for Great Britain's next Davis Cup match and after Sunday's 3-2 humbling by Poland in Liverpool, British tennis is officially on its knees.

Despite the heroics of Andy Murray, relegation to Europe-Africa Zone Group II of the Davis Cup could not be avoided and the question is why does British tennis continue to show no signs of improvement?

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Those in charge of the Lawn Tennis Association must have been preparing themselves for some tough questions as Dan Evans (no. 302 in the world) was unable to overcome a player ranked 376 places below him despite the support of a raucous Liverpool Echo Arena.

Michal Przysiezny overcame the teenage debutant in straight sets to confirm a fourth successive defeat - Britain's worst run since they lost six on the bounce between 1992 and 1995.

Unsurprisingly, those questions have begun to be asked as critics demand to know just where the estimated £50million banked from the success of Wimbledon and a new sponsorship deal with Aegon has gone in recent years.

Sunday's defeat means Britain have plummeted into the third division for only the second time since the sport's oldest team event was revamped in 1981.

However, one man who isn't surprised is Murray who believes that relegation could now finally usher in a much-needed new dawn in British tennis.

"I think now, at last, we are where we deserve to be," claimed the Scot. "We clearly are not good enough to be playing against these teams.

"Everybody who's involved - and I am one of them - needs to be honest about how we are doing and that we need to get better. This could be the best thing that happens."

Whether future Davis Cup matches involve Murray remains to be seen as he refused to contemplate his international future at the weekend.

However, one thing is for certain. British tennis needs change at the top before the grass-roots can improve.

In 2000, when Britain lost at home to Ecuador, then head of tennis Richard Lewis resigned.

It remains to be seen whether any of the LTA's current top brass decide to accept responsibility for the continued demise of a once proud tennis sporting nation.

Murray was too diplomatic to join the voices calling for change, but surely this is a wake-up call which nobody can ignore?

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