Monday, March 1, 2010

GB must handle pressure - Lloyd

Davis Cup captain John Lloyd
Lloyd is hoping Britain's Davis Cup slide will come to an end in Lithuania

Great Britain's inexperienced players must learn to cope with the pressure of performing in the Davis Cup, says team captain John Lloyd.

Britain take on Lithuania in Vilnius from Friday, with world number four Andy Murray choosing to skip the Euro-Africa Zone Group II tie.

James Ward, Dan Evans, Colin Fleming, Ken Skupski, Jamie Baker and Ross Hutchins make up the squad.

"Davis Cup, in my opinion, is the most difficult thing to play," said Lloyd.

"Even more so than Grand Slams because of what it entails, playing for your country, in a team.

"Certain players have it and some don't," he told the LTA website, "and that's what we've got to learn, who has that ability to play to the best of their ability under pressure."

It's always great to get selected and just be part of the experience, but to be preparing to play this time is obviously a bit different

Colin Fleming

Murray ruled himself out of the Davis Cup for the foreseeable future after Britain's defeat by Poland last September, which saw them relegated to the third tier of the competition.

That leaves Lloyd unable to call upon a player who has won a live Davis Cup singles rubber.

His initial selection sees Ward and Evans in the two singles spots, with Fleming and Skupski in line for the doubles, although the captain can change up to two players in his team up to one hour before the draw is made on Thursday.

Lloyd has chosen to leave out British number two Alex Bogdanovic after the world number 151 lost seven of his eight singles rubbers over six years, winning a solitary dead rubber against Australia in 2003.

That leaves Ward, ranked 250th in the world, in line to make his Davis Cup debut after the 23-year-old was a member of the squad for two previous ties against the Ukraine and Poland.

606: DEBATE

Evans, who is ranked 252nd in the world, lost both rubbers in straight sets on his Davis Cup debut against Poland in Liverpool.

Fleming and Skupski are 53rd and 54th in the doubles rankings after an impressive 12 months that has seen them win ATP titles in St Petersburg and Metz, and Lloyd will hope that the pair can finally end Britain's long wait for a world-class doubles team.

"It's always great to get selected and just be part of the experience," said Fleming.

"But to be preparing to play this time is obviously a bit different, I'm really looking forward to getting out there and just want to do everything I can to be ready to play my best.

"I've always loved playing on a team, I've done it on a much smaller scale at university, everyone is behind each other and we want to do our best, so it's a nice change from just playing for ourselves."

Lithuania's number one is 19-year-old Ricardas Berankis, who is ranked 198th in the world having begun the year at 320, while the number two is 18-year-old Laurynas Grigelis, ranked 521st.

The winners of the tie in Vilnius will face either Ireland or Turkey with a relegation play-off for the losers.

This is only the second time British tennis has found itself at this level - the previous spell was for two years in the mid 1990s.

medications for anxiety | buy kamagra cheap | cialis super active+

No comments: