Tennis: Andy Murray has broken the 79 year Davis Cup drought for Great Britain, denying Belgium of their first Cup title.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, Britain’s Davis Cup captain Leon Smith insisted he now has no plans to leave the role.
After teaming with brother Jamie to win the doubles on Saturday, he is the first player since Pete Sampras in 1995 to win three live matches in a Davis Cup final.
“I don’t know where the next generation are”, he told reporters.
“People in the business who love British tennis say that nothing is changing, and you can see Murray’s frustrations with his comments”.
“When you’re the top player, it’s easy to think that you shouldn’t be stirring up problems, everything you want is being taken care of, you’re the man”, Lloyd added.
But Murray has given a downbeat assessment of the future of British tennis despite the extraordinary Davis Cup victory.
“It’s concerning not to have any juniors in the Grand Slams because that is something we were always very good at”.
“Sometimes I feel a bit like you waste time because nothing ever gets done, so I also don’t want to waste my time talking about stuff”, he was quoted as saying in several British newspapers.
He said the International Tennis Federation, which runs the Davis Cup, and the ATP Tour, needs to co-operate more closely to ensure the big names play every year.
Murray’s rise to prominence over the past decade, following players like Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski, has resulted in the sport gaining an even greater profile in the UK. But, looking at the state of it more closely, my next thought was I really hope it doesn’t cause an accident and get someone injured.
David Goffin had given the hosts a 1-0 lead after coming from two sets down against Kyle Edmund to win the opening singles rubber, but the scores were levelled in the second match when Murray beat Ruben Bemelmans. “It’s incredible that we managed to win this competition”. We may never get a better opportunity to do that than now.
Advertisement
The 28-year-old sportsman has plenty to celebrate as he awaits the arrival of his first child with wife Kim Sears and he has also been named on the 12-person shortlist for the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year Award.
