Lloyd waits for answer as Murray faces up to Davis Cup dilemma

THE immediate consequences of relegation from the World Group of the Davis Cup will become clear to the Great Britain team today, when the draw for next year's competition takes place in Madrid and they learn who their next opponents will be.

With some months to go before their next match is due, however, the longer-term implications of the weekend's defeat by Austria will not become apparent for some time.

There was an acrimonious end to the 3-2 defeat at Wimbledon, with Andy Murray implying that other team members had not shown the commitment to the cause that he had displayed during his two singles victories. But, while Murray's commitment may be total when he is actually involved, it is not unconditional, and this could develop into a serious headache for John Lloyd, the Great Britain captain.

Murray, who did not play against Argentina earlier this year because of a knee condition, has already talked of the physical strains of adapting from one surface to the other. He said last week he would ideally like Davis Cup ties to be played on the same surface as the ATP tournaments which precede them, but accepted that is unlikely to happen in the near future at least.

So, even if the world No4's desire to play for his country remains constant, there is a genuine risk that he will rule himself out because of injury concerns. He strained an abductor muscle last week after playing on grass for the first time following the US Open, and if such minor injuries occur they are bound to make him question the worth of travelling to some of world tennis' less glamorous locations to play in Euro Africa Zone One.

The first thing Lloyd does once he hears the draw will be to get on the phone to Murray, and at present he is confident of receiving a positive answer to his invitation to play in next year's competition. But, with time on his side, the captain will also need to come up with some contingency plans in the event of his star player becoming unavailable.

Lloyd admitted on Sunday evening that, as Britain had been unable to stay in the World Group even with Murray in the team, it would be a whole lot more difficult to get back into that top 16 without the Scot. Throwing some of the country's most talented juniors in at the deep end, he suggested, was one possible course of action.

"I'm hoping it will be a home draw or somewhere exotic so we can ask him (Murray] for a week's holiday before," Lloyd said. "I hope he wants to play for his country. Obviously we want him.

"You don't like going down to the Championship: it's not that great. Hopefully he'll think he was part of the team that went down and let's help to get it back up.

"But if it doesn't happen then it's a different kind of focus on the team. Would that be a time to bring in some youngsters and blood them? Then we have a rebuilding thing going on.

"Andy can win two singles against anybody, anytime, anywhere. We have to find a way to win one more rubber. That's my job."

It is indeed Lloyd's job in the sense that he is responsible for picking the team. In a wider sense, however, it is the job of the LTA, who have enjoyed a multi-million annual income thanks to Wimbledon but have yet to produce players capable of proving adequate back-up for the British No1.

There is no point in scapegoating the hapless Alex Bogdanovic, who wilted against Alexander Peya in the decisive rubber of the Austria match. It is not his fault he is the British No2. It is up to other players to rise to the challenge – and it is up to the LTA to ensure that they do so, at pain of having their funding cut.

Murray was in no doubt as to his position: "I do have to win both my matches. I felt I dealt with the pressure well but we need to find other ways of winning points and it shouldn't just be my fault all the time if we win or lose ties, because this is supposed to be a team event.

"If we want to be in the world group you have to have a very good doubles team. Me and Jamie have hardly played. We are good but not very good at the highest level, so we need to find ways of winning other points rather than just my two singles."

The position might have been slightly better had Jamie Baker not contracted a life-threatening condition earlier this year and been forced to spend months recuperating, but only slightly.

Baker is a fighter, and not inured to failure in the way in which Bogdanovic appears to be, but even at his best he would be unable to guarantee Britain the third point they need to win ties.

A genuine world-class No2 is needed, and that will take years. Until then, the frustrations are likely to grow for Murray – and, as a consequence, for Lloyd.

Great Britain are seeded in Euro Africa Zone One, as are Slovakia, Belgium and Belarus. The non-seeds they could be drawn against are Italy, Macedonia, Poland, South Africa and Ukraine.