A new low?

After a fifth defeat on the bounce Britain's Davis Cup team now face the uninspiring task of a relegation playoff against Turkey in September.


If John Lloyd's team lose that tie then it's relegation to the bottom league of tennis into the catchy named Europe/African Zone group III.


In Britain's long history of competing in the Davis Cup it's team has never sunk so low. There is little doubt that interest in the competition has fallen away since Henman's retirement in 2007.


That match which was notably Team GB's last victory was held in front of a capacity crowd on Court One at Wimbledon.


Attending the match their was a sense that following Henman and Rusedski's retirement that the team may struggle to maintain it's position. So it came as no surprise that despite Andy Murray's valiant efforts that the team dropped out of the elite group the next year.


However it is unlikely that many of the crowd that stood to applaud Henman off court that day believed that they were witnessing the teams final victory of the decade.


So where does the British team go from here? Firstly they must overcome Turkey at all costs - a further drop down the tiers of the the Davis Cup would not only inflict further damage on a team low on confidence it would also make the journey back to the world group a mammoth task. As it stands the earliest we can get back to the world group would is 2013 if they lose to Turkey then that becomes 2014.


Questions must also be asked of cup captain John Lloyd. No captain has ever presided over such an unbroken run of failure. Many will sympathise with Lloyd, arguing that he has had precious talent at his disposal. Yet the presence of Andy Murray should have made life much easier but alas to no avail.


Now it's unlikely that the British no.1 will make himself available for the next few ties-and who can blame him? He can have little appetite taking time out of his tour schedule while on the hunt for a maiden grand slam to play ties against teams that fail to boast any players ranked inside the top 100.

Still the position of John Lloyd and Roger Draper will be under scrutiny over the coming weeks and it is unlikley that both will still be in their jobs come September.

Brits on Tour Week 2

Women's No.1 Elena Baltacha has qualified for her second tour event in a row this week at the Hobart international in Australia.

The world no.85 will face Jelena Dokic in the first round having lost against her opponent in there only previous meeting at Wimbledon back in 2003.

Baltacha will be delighted with her victory over Anna Chakvetadze a player who won the Hobart cup only 2 years ago.

On the men's side Dan Evans is one match away from Qualifying for the Heineken Open in Auckland and faces Tsung-Hua Yang for a place in the main draw.

The 18 year old player from Chinese Tapai is currently ranked at 341 although could prove a tough test for Evans after an impresssive victory over world no.244 Jan Minar.

Meanwhile following a successful run at the Hopman Cup world no.4 Andy Murray is resting ahead of an assault on the Australian Open title, while many other Brits are gearing up for the Qualifiers which start mid week.

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Update 11/10/2010:

Evans beats Yang in 3 sets to reach the main draw at Auckland. The 19 year old will face fellow qualifier and world no.209 Michael Lammer in the first round.

Brits gear up for 2010

As the 2010 tennis season kicks off there are positive signs for British tennis in 2010.

Elena Baltacha, the British number one and James Ward have both qualified for the main event at Auckland and Channai respectively.

Baltacha, who is currently sitting at a career high ranking of 84 cruised past Canada's Stephanie Dubois 6-3 6-1 and will feel confident going into her first round match against Ioana Raluca.

If she can overcome that hurdle then a possible match up against no.3 seed Yania Wickmayer will certainly show Baltacha how far she has come ahead of the Aussie Open.

Meanwhile the 22 year old Ward defeated two higher ranked players including a convincing win over Israel's Naom Okun at Channai.

However Ward who is beginning to like the best choice for Britain's second Davis cup slot will now face a sterner test against world no.91 Marcel Grannolers.

Grannolers although primarily a doubles specialist is ranked over 170 places above Ward and certainly knows his way around a tennis court.