Now Andy Murray has taken temporary leave from Davis Cup action it now gives the rest of Britain the opportunity to prove themselves.
The LTA announced the side that will take on Lithuania in the Europe/Africa zone group 2 on March 5-7. The squad includes Dan Evans, Jamie Baker, James Ward and the doubles pairing of Ken Skupski and Colin Fleming, with Ross Hutchins as back up.
Although the team has yet to be finalised it is likely that Ward and the young Evans will be given the chance to shine. They are both holding the British no.3 and 4 singles rankings respectively and both competed in the qualifying draw for the Australian Open last month. Baker however has had experience of winning a rubber against Agustin Calleri in 2008 but his form is not at the level it once was.
In the doubles Skupski and Fleming have developed a superb partnership in the past year and will be our biggest chance in securing a win. They have been in great form since the turn of the decade, reaching the semi-final of the Aircel Chennai Open in India before claiming their first main draw victory at a Grand Slam after defeating Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) and Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of the Australian Open.
John Lloyd AEGON GB Davis Cup Team Captain, said of the selection: “This is a real opportunity for some of our younger players to gain valuable Davis Cup experience. I’m confident that they all have the ability to perform at this level, and a passion to represent their country.”
Bottle
The question though remains is whether they have the bottle?
The fact it is not being played on home soil will actually help their cause especially being away from the media spotlight. Instead the tie will be played on the clay of Vilnius at the Vitas Gerulaitis Memorial Tennis Centre. This is a surface Ward and Evans have succeeded on in the past, most notably Ward, who last year became the first man since Tim Henman to win an ATP Challenger Tour event on the red brick.
Meanwhile, the threat of Lithuania or should I say lack of it, show little signs of causing many problems with only Ricardas Berankis, who is ranked just three places below Ward in the rankings, being the only man to strike any type of concerns.
Other than that it is the perfect opportunity for the British lads to get a positive result and banish the shadow of Murray for the meantime anyway.
