Having been made GBs Davis Cup captain, will he make a difference??

Gee, not very positive.......and most people don't even care roflmao

I said John would. To be honest I don't think he'll personally have much of an impact, but I think Team GB will regroup and a favourable set of opponents might see us through.... here's hoping :pray:

Cant see he being effective actually-

I care, and I think he will do his best with what he has. he may in fact make a huge difference as he is goin gto approach Henman and aks him to come back at least for the relegation play off with Ukraine. Never knwo Tim MIGHT listen, and what has Tim go tto lose now? He's also going to sort out the Boggo situation forthwith and says he'll give some youngsters a chance.

John Lloyd is a prat.

If you're so in favour of the youngsters in the team, then why are you blatantly casting them aside to try and get tim back? Its not like tim will be around in future years of Davis cup so it'd be pointless in the long run!

Also the youngsters in the team should be able to beat their lower ranked opponents. Lloyd isnt exactly instilling confidence in the team by practically saying they can't beat opponents ranked below them and thus they need the help of a man who is heading towards retirement. Why look backwards? He strikes me as being a fan of stop gap measures and gimmicks which please people in the short run but is not really advantageous in the long run. Only one thing positive has come from his appointment - i wont have to listen to his bloody commentary.

Why is John Lloyd a 'prat' as so eloquently put? I am nto his number one advocate or anything but it seems to be trendy to call every British ex-player/commentator one? :rolleyes: I dont; think he is bad at all, and I liek his commentary as do a lot of people. Seems a nice enough and intelligent bloke to me.

Anyway maybe it is a stop gap, I dont; know but who else do they have? Any suggestions? :shrug: I hear KoC had a few, blame that lot they should have voted for Jill or me ;)

I think we need Tim back for Ukraine though, although I think ti is on clay and that might not help. I think some of the captains of DC are getting far too much stick lately. I would criticise some of Bate's decisions, but he was hardly swamped with talent to pick from was he? Well I just wish some of these trolls who come on the BBC day in day out slatign the likes of Lloyd and Bates could actaully tell us who they think shoudl do the job, and of course it must be someone who is willing, available and qualified to do so.

I dont like this ' lets bring Tim back'. Henman has paid his dues for Davis cup, for well over a decade. I think bringing back Tim, hinders any chance of young players breaking through, as it will be the usual suspects again playing for Davis cup...............with the same results...............again....

I think Davis Cup in britain is on a major decline, and i personally dont think new captains, returning or new members is really going to change that.

Oh I agree long term, but I dont; think bringing back Tim for one crucial match is a bad idea at all, as we need to ensure we win this. Then again knowing poor Tim he coudl lose and get slated! Who's in the Ukraine DC team?

crucial?? lets face it were never gonna win davis cup but thats beside the point...we should beat ukraine with or without henman/rusedski!

Ukraine's top 5 players:

Sergei Stakhovsky: wr: 181 (actually better on hard courts and has a losing h2h record of 2-0 vs boggo - though he probably wont play)
Orest Terestchuk: wr: 391 (decent doubles player wr 108)

Alexsandr Dolgopolov jnr: wr: 444
Sergei Bubka: wr: 499
Oleksandr Nedovyesov: 550

mackin & baker are good on clay and if andy murray cannot beat any of these lot i'd be shocked. The brit doubles players are also a lot better and i would be surprised if its not 4-1 to britain....at the very least.

Come on look at the rankings of the ukranians - the fact that he's so desperate to still get henman back shows that he's not one for building team confidence/spirit.

firstly i never said lloyd was a stop gap just that he strikes me as being one who likes to use these kind of measures to try and make things look better than they are.

I'm not even too confident he'll know which players are in form from the british team. He doesnt seem to be aware of the satellites/futures/challenger tour - im sure he is but he makes comments like so and so is ranked 150 and therefore he must have not played to many matches in the world! WTF? I cant remember who who he was talking bout but that guy had played at least 30 matches that year. So im sorry if i dont feel to confident with him at the helm. Anyways regardless of captain GB should beat ukraine....

Yes the Ukraines are not highly ranked. I can see lloyd's concerns mind as it is not unusual for our players to lose to lower ranked players, as per Boggo. I guess in theory the likes of Baker and Mackin should win, but it don't feel ultra confident! Greg doesn't like clay and in the shape he is in and at his age, if he gets runs around a lot he could easily lose. I guess we have to bank on Murray being fit, and will have to come up with a good doubles team that excludes Murray to save him for singles this time. No risks please! :)

Aplogies, stop gap was said by someone else. I woudl to say I was 100% confident either in Lloyd but as I say who else have we got at the mo? At least he is prepared to step up for the challenge though, it's a thankless task. I expect as you say soem of his knowledge is lacking, I doubt he follows the lower tournies as closely as some do. Hopefully he will start to take note now though! I'm just sick of peopel insulting him that was all. :)

BTW is SERGEI BUBKA anything to do with the great pole vaulter of the same name?

I did wonder bout that but i dunno if they are anyway realted (im sure will find out come september)

I read this post on another british tennis website and i think it sums up the situation quite nicely and i agree with it fully especially regarding the Boggo situation.:

"I'm pleased that John Lloyd says he's going to give chances to young players like Josh Goodall and Jamie Baker. I know it's really important for GB to win this tie but I'd rather see one of them play alongside Andy Murray rather than Rusedski. Greg's going to be 33 in September and he's going to be around for 2 more years at most. It's time to give the younger upcoming players a chance in a live singles rubber and see who rises to the challenge, they have to build from somewhere and it's better to do it against the Ukraine than in a harder tie next year. Bates should have done that in April for the Serbia tie and played someone like Bloomfield, Lee or Baker instead of picking Arvind Parmar. Ok, Parmar did well in Rotterdam but he was never going to beat Djokovic and it was a good chance to give one of the younger ones a chance.

However, I think the way that Lloyd and the entire LTA have treated Boggo is dreadful, in the last two years he's made himself available to play DC at the expense at gaining ranking points and afterwards they've given him a real bashing in the press and have not missed an opportunity to make a snide remark about Boggo being symbolic of everything which is wrong with British tennis. No one seemed to take into account the fact that he was badly injured v Okun at Eastbourne - he actually ripped a hip muscle. The fact that he's been out for 3 weeks since then and is not certain to play USO qualies shows how bad the injury was. Instead of supporting Alex after his losses in the DC, they've deliberately made him a scapegoat for British tennis. Andy Murray played a bad match v Wawrinka in Switzerland last year but the LTA didn't have a go at him in the press afterwards. I would love to see Boggo prove himself in DC but when the LTA next offer him a DC place I'd like him to just tell them to stuff it after all he's had to put up with from them. It'll probably be better for him to play the 125K+H challenger in Poland as he'll be returning to his fav surface of indoor hard.

I think that Lloyd also really needs to give a chance to one of our many upcoming doubles pairs in DC, starting with the Ukraine tie. In coming years we don't want the situation for Andy which Tim had to cope with over the past decade, ie: having to play on all 3 days and be tired out for the reverse singles. Given that we've got so many quality doubles players starting to progress through the rankings and win challengers, it'd be stupid to allow that to occur. It'd be great if Lloyd gives one of them a chance against the Ukraine and there are 4 quality pairs who could win the rubber for us: Auckland/Delgado, Fleming/Murray, Goodall/Hutchins and Lee/Marray. All are in the top 200 and have had fantastic results in challengers, atps and in the case of Auckland/Delgado and Goodall/Hutchins, they've had experience of grand slam success this year.

I was so disappointed when I heard Lloyd's statement about approaching Henman, I really hope that Tim says no, that would be a big step backwards and contradicts what Lloyd said back in July about giving new players a chance."

Goodall has turned down the reserve spot in the davis cup.

GB should still make it through but its starting to get tough. No Tim, no boggo, no goodall and will Greg manage to last a couple of 5 setters on Clay? On any other surface id reckon he'd come through despite his age/health but on clay....hmm...

I'm not sure why there is this negativity about John Lloyd. Like many others, I have a great deal more respect for him than I ever did for dinosaur Bates!

Lloyd is being brutally honest with the lack of quality at his disposal after Greg and Andy. Boggo is on his way to drinking the last-chance saloon dry, and quite frankly the rest are nowhere near the required level and are in a comfort zone - they don't want to get to the top enough.

Why try and gloss over the poor quality of talent available to him? Maybe getting tough is what is going to push these guys to the next level! Bogdanovic for one has taken a heck of a lot of stick, but I think it is warranted. This is a guy who was touted as a great talent when he first came to prominence, but in the first 2-3 years after that he just didn't put the effort in, and as a result I think it is highly unlikely that he will ever get into the worlds top 50, which he probably had the talent to do.

John Lloyd will do a great job i'm sure for the British Davis cup team, he knows a lot about the game and I reckon he will be a much greater influence at changeovers etc. than Bates ever was.

J.L is fine. No problem there. But really you cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear

Absolutely! However Lloydy might be able to get a little more out of the team than we were getting towards the end of Master Bates' reign! roflmao

Baker, Rusedski, Mackin and Andy Murray will go to the Ukraine. Greg will most likely only play in the doubles as he has a niggling injury....

well he does it again. What a fool

Ok, mackin does well in a challenger. So as a result John Lloyd is deciding to drop him from the team because scheduling will be too tight. Its next weekend for gods sake and Mackin has pretty good fitness levels! Instead he brings in Jamie Delgado, who for all his good intentions is yet to win a Davis cup match!

Yes JL - most definitely a prat.

He's totally f**ked Mackin over. Told him he was in the team and then punished him for being in good form - GENIUS. He could have been playing in a F13 or qualifying at a challenger but instead will not have competitive matches for 2 weeks and loses out on potentially very valuable ranking pts.

Mkk stop talking out of your arse mate ;)

He dropped Mackin because he decided, instead of joing a camp with the rest of the team (except the big guns) he went off and played a challenger!

Leave Lloydy alone, you've not given him a chance from moment one yet!

And besides, I do have more faith in Delgado than Mackin. Anyone remember the farce of Mackin vs. Fed? roflmao

Ok lets look at the facts:

Mackin has won 5 matches on clay this year, that’s more matches than Delgado has won full stop (W3 Lost 9 in total compared to Mackin’s record of W18 lost 15). Mackin is ranked 321 and in form whilst Delgado is ranked just inside the top 500 and hasn’t won a singles match since Wimbledon!

Mackin has a davis cup singles record of 1-3, with Delgado at 0-5. Mackin has lost to wawrinka, federer, and a 2003 Philippoussis, a year were the Australian would finish top 10. Delgado on the other hand has lost at Okun, Novak, Ulihrach and the black brothers.

Oh and so are you telling me if Gaston Gaudio was a Briton you wouldn’t select him for this fixture then? Should Delgado not be allowed to play because he lost 0-6 0-6 2-6 to Byron Black, a player who was just in the top 75 and never won a grand slam and just two singles titles and im pretty sure he not the world number 1, almost immortal Swiss that Mackin faced... So your comment about “the farce of Mackin vs. Fed?” looks to me to have most definitely originated “out of your arse mate” ;)

One last thing, how long does it take to prepare for a davis cup tie? 10 years? Mackin would have had more than enough time to acclimatise to the surface unless the Ukranians are using some new fangled clay surface.

Im not trying to say that mackin would have won because he is pretty poor on clay, but so is Delgado and at least mackin has won SOME matches on the red stuff. My point is that you take your best players that are available.

A quite irrelevent contribution but Byron Black is one of only three players ever to bagel Federer, back in 1999 when Roger was only 17! Actually, he was the last player ever to do so, at Queens ...

:ok: exactly. You cannot . Dc Captain is not an enviable position to be in and really is there anyoen out there who COULD do better? If so I wish people woudl spit it out and tell us why. I'd liek to wish lloydie good luck, and I am sure he will d his best or he would not have taken this over.

I will not forget Mackin's effort against Fed in a hurry - it was absolute embarrassment, I back John Lloyd 100% in being ruthless - he obviously has good firm reasons for dropping Mackin, IMO I would play Delgado ahead of Mackin anyway, he has more pure talent IMO.

Mackin is a poor clogger roflmao

Can I have the real reason why you don't like John Lloyd Mkk? There's obviously a hidden agenda here, because JL is a pretty good appointment in the eyes of most Vritish tennis fans ;)

Thats beside the point. Whether or not the team is great doesnt mean the Captain should just pick any random team willynilly. Ever heard of making the best of a bad situation? Thats what he's got to do.

I have two main issues with Lloyd. Firstly his decision to drop mackin is a bad one in my eyes. I'll repeat it again but isnt it obvious that you pick the best team available to you? So again ill repeat myself once more, why is he choosing a 29 year old lower ranked player who's not playing that well and has never won a davis cup match over a guy who just turned 25, is ranked higher and in form. The other thing that annoys me is the way he says one thing but then he does something else. He's been constantly banging on about bringing in youth but hasnt made any moves to do so and actually wanted back to a player who hoesnt even wanna play DC!

BTW, whilst i'll accept that i havent given lloyd much a chance, in the same way i dont see why you lot are giving him SO much credit? You guys seem to feel that just cos he is new these decisions dont matter and we'll see. To me the decisions that have been made were wrong regardless of who made them.

ANyways thats hopefulyl my last pt on it... (i cant be arsed - i doubt we'll see each others POV)

mkk, I reckon you must see your glass as half empty.

Lloydy hasn't even had a match yet and already you're pretending you know better!

when the rankings we're talking about are so low anyway, i'm not sure they are that relevant. Mackin always looks way too passive for me, Delgado did at least show some fight in the Israel tie! :D

I have a feeling you don't like John Lloyd from what you've seen off the TV. Fair enough, but don't make it skew your views now he's taken over as our Davis Cup captain. I could relate this to your beloved Arsenal, When Wenger first came to your club you lot were very apprehensive about him, now look! :D

Welcome back, Sam ;)

This might be a little off-topic, but whilst I knew that John Lloyd won a mixed doubles title at Wimbledon, but I hadn't realised that he had won 3 grand slam titles, at doubles, admittedly!! :yikes:

Does that make him the most successful British male player in terms of slam wins for donkeys years..?? Anyone know the last male brit to win 3+ slams, in any shape or form??

:blink:

When I worked for Hungarian Radio, Balázs Taróczy was always described as "former Wimbledon champion Balázs Taróczy" (he won the mixed doubles one year with Heinz Gunthardt). I remember objecting that in the UK we wouldn't call John Lloyd "former Wimbledon champion" to which I was told "Well, you should!"

So, former Wimbledon champion John Lloyd has now taken of the Davis Cup squad...

Haha I only decided to argue on this thread while I was putting the Poscar catergories up - I can't believe Mkk's attitude towards John Lloyd! Nothing has gone wrong yet! roflmao

I am a bit shocked at the venom shown to Lloyd and i have said so. The worst type is where peopel seem to call him a prat etc. without further qualification AND before he had even made ANY decisions relating to DC :rolleyes: Well anyway, now MK has a reason to complain and I understand it is to do with the selection of Delgado over Mackin. But I don't see that as too much to get THAT worked up over because IMO neither one is a great player by any stretch of the imagination (not knocking either, but when we compare them to top 10 players I think the shortcomings are obvious) and ranking/age/DC records aside, in this situation that both have an equal chanc eo fwinnign a match if you ask me. And one thing abotu Delgado is that he is committed and gutsy and gives his best for his country. It might not have been good enough but in the most recent tie in Israel, defy anyone who come sofrward and says that Jamie did nto give his heart and soul and go up a level in a match he wa sunlucky to lose. Eagerness is key, and I dont; think Mackin is that eager form what I have seen. And really age wise, Mackin is 25 and Delgado 29, so what? I

I have issues with Mackin becasue although he's the better player on paper, he seems to me to have a loser's attitude like Bogo. Sometime she just looks like a lamb going to the slaughter, Sam is right - he is very timid. I was impressed with what I saw at Wimby, until he threw it away and lost. I know that Mackin is supposed to be better on clay though, and Delgado isn't so that could be cause for concern but how much it is really going to matter I don't know. I thought also there was someproblem with getting Mackin there becaus eof his schedule? I dont; knwo what but that is what I heard. Well neither are dream team material, and maybe Lloyd ha sother reasons that is isn't mentioning, as I am sur ehe would not take a decision like this lightly.

And does it matter that much, as the core team are Murray and Rusedski anyway, the others are for back up!

Ukraine take the 1st set 6-3 in the doubles

Its 2 sets to love Ukraine

Ukraine win 6-3 6-3 6-3

Murray takes the 1st set in the 4th rubber 6-3

Murray takes the 2nd set 6-2

Its looking good for GB :ok:

Murray wins 6-3 6-2 7-5 and GB win the tie !

Yes a pleasing result for the Team and for Lloyd :ok: I knwo we should have won on papaer and all, but we all knwo it can go wrong so well done. :ok: