GREAT BRITAIN woke up this morning facing the prospect of another year outside the Davis Cup's elite World Group after John Lloyd's rookies failed to fill the void left by Andy Murray.
Britain had to win today's doubles rubber to avoid defeat with a day to spare in their Euro/Africa Zone Group One tie against Ukraine.
It seemed victory for Ross Hutchins and Colin Fleming at Glasgow's Braehead Arena, while not out of the quest
ion, would merely delay the inevitable.
For not only have Britain only once come back from 2-0 down in a Davis Cup tie – and that was almost 79 years ago – they have surely never asked such an inexperienced team to perform the feat.
Making their first appearances in the competition, Josh Goodall and Chris Eaton battled gamely but were ultimately found wanting in yesterday's singles rubbers. The writing was on the wall as soon as world No.192 Goodall – effectively the British No.1 in the absence of the virus-hit Murray – lost in straight sets to Illya Marchenko, a player ranked 32 places below him. As he did so famously at Wimbledon last year, world No.383 Eaton belied his lowly status to give Sergiy Stakhovsky – No.125 – a scare before going down in four sets.
Despite his dispiriting defeat, 23-year-old Goodall was confident he could give Stakhovsky more of a test should they meet as scheduled tomorrow.
"In some ways, it might suit my game a little bit better, the way Stakhovsky plays. There will be shorter rallies and a bit more aggressive tennis," he said, admitting nerves had affected him in his match against Marchenko.
Eaton demonstrated the kind of determination that saw him become the lowest-ranked male to reach the second round of Wimbledon last summer. Both he and Goodall are relishing their first taste of the Davis Cup and Eaton is hungry for more.
"It's my job now just to make sure I'm in those situations the whole time and force my way onto this team," he said.
British captain Lloyd conceded it was "a long way" back for his team. "We would have been happy with 1-1 going into the doubles, but it's not to be. I've got to give their players credit – they played the big points very well."
