Smith looks on the bright side after cup rout
LEON Smith insisted a Davis Cup whitewash by France should not mask the progress being made in British tennis. Britain suffered a two-day loss for the first time since 2009, a year before Smith took over as captain and unexpectedly revived longforgotten glories.
After straight-sets defeats for Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans on day one at Rouen’s Kindarena, the chance of more success for the 2015 champions was remote at best. Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot came close to keeping British hopes alive but slipped to a 7-6 (9/7), 5-7, 7-5, 7-5, defeat to Nicolas Mahut and Julien Benneteau in the doubles.
It was a match of fine margins played in a terrific atmosphere but in the end it was the veteran French team who were able to celebrate a date with Serbia in September – their fifth semi-final in eight years.
Britain were looking for a third in a row, and Smith was keen to remind doom-mongers that all disappointments are relative.
“It’s always really disappointing to lose because we’ve got used to going a little bit deeper into the year but we played against a very good team and we’ve still maintained our World Group status, which is important for us,” said the Scot.
“A quarter-final, a win, a semifinal, a quarter-final – in decades previous you weren’t getting that. You’ve got Andy and Jamie [Murray] at the very top of the game, Jo Konta at the very top of the game.
“Do we lack depth? Yes, of course we lack depth, that’s pretty bloody obvious, and we want to make sure that we find a few more players both on the men’s and women’s side that are playing on the main tour. It’s a damn sight better than it used to be but there’s still work to be done.”
Doubles in Davis Cup rarely disappoints and this was another example of why the International Tennis Federation look certain to keep it at the heart of the weekend when changes to the competition are voted on in August.
Murray said: “Obviously it was a really close match. We probably did enough to win the first set, we won the second set and then we were up a break in the third set, so realistically we could potentially have won the first three sets. It was an exciting match, a lot of good tennis, we just didn’t get it done when it mattered.”
The dead rubbers will be played today before Britain can look forward to next year’s competition, when Smith is hopeful Andy Murray will be available.
Smith said: “Hopefully the team gets stronger because obviously we’ve got Andy and Jamie at the very top of the game but Dom keeps looking to improve as much as he can, and then hopefully the likes of Kyle and Evo can continue to keep improving so one or both of them become top 25.”