Lloyd may be forced to turn to youth

DAVIS CUP captain John Lloyd is one of only two British-born men still alive to have reached a Grand Slam singles final. Apart from tennis, his passion is motion pictures. Ever the movie buff, he makes the point that the final Bannockburn victory in the Academy Award- winning Braveheart was achieved when the film’s central character was unavailable for selection.
Lloyd is still not resigned to being without his own version of William Wallace at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena when his team take on Ukraine for the right to contest a place in the competition’s elite World Group in September.
While the captain and his men headed north last night, Lloyd left behind team doctor Michael Turner and physiotherapist Andy Ireland to supervise the most sophisticated medical tests today on Andy Murray.
Their role is to ascertain the extent of the virus and, they hope, dispel fears that the British No 1 is suffering from glandular fever, which would hamper his Wimbledon hopes, let alone his fast-disappearing chances of walking on to court on Friday to play Ukraine’s second-string singles player, Illya Marchenko, ranked 223 places behind the Scot on the ATP World Tour’s computer.
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“I’m still hopeful, and we will leave it as long as possible, which means 24 hours before Thursday morning’s draw to see if Andy can play — but I’m also a realist,” said Lloyd, who twice last year had to sit through the pain of defeat in ties against Argentina and Austria, the first without Murray and the second with him in the team. “If Andy is as sick as some people are already drawing conclusions, then the important thing is to identify the virus and then get him well as quickly as possible, because he is the immediate future of British tennis.
“If he can’t play, then I will be a lot more confident going into the tie without him than I would have been a week ago. Seeing the determination of the players who contested this week’s playoffs at Roehampton has really got me believing. And let’s remember, there’s not a huge amount of experience in the Ukraine team.”
Murray’s enforced absence will dispel the belief held a matter of months ago that British men’s tennis is all about one family. Lloyd considered going back on his decision to drop Andy’s elder brother, Jamie, from the team after a sub-standard performance against the Austrians and a problematic seven months on the doubles tour that saw him register a handful of victories.
“I thought about it, but probably only for a matter of five minutes,” said Lloyd. “It would be too much of a risk going into a tie like this with two of my four players being doubles specialists. Telling Jamie I was leaving him out was not a pleasant task because he is such a likeable person, but sometimes you have to take the tough option. Hopefully this will now give him the added determination to get his game and competitive spirit back to where it was a couple of years ago.”
With Josh Goodall (ranked world No 196) and Chris Eaton (No 390) filling the singles berths, and possibly Colin (doubles No 288) partnering Ross Hutchins, it will be the most inexperienced British team ever to play a Davis Cup tie. “If that’s the case, then so be it,” said Lloyd.
“There’s been a marked change in Josh’s attitude in the past year or so and seeing was believing in respect of the spirit that saw Chris through that playoff match that almost stretched to seven hours.
“I feel I have not given Chris enough respect since he qualified at Wimbledon last summer and then won a round in the main draw.
“In hindsight, I should probably have played him against Austria, but even then I didn’t name him in the original six for the playoffs. He only came in when Jamie Baker suffered a stress fracture of his foot, but I love people courageously proving their point. After all, wasn’t that what Braveheart was all about?”
Source:the times