intosport.com – the blog

Well it’s been a week or so since our last blog and there’s been a lots to keep up with.

It was very disappointing to see John Lloyd resign from his position as Captain of Great Britain’s David Cup team following the embarrassing loss to Lithuania. The general theme of the post event press coverage was that change would be inevitable, but it wasn’t just Lloyd’s head being called for. Plenty of well known and respected voices from the tennis world, including Lloyd’s brother David and several former Davis Cup players, cried for a change at the very top of the LTA, rather than the resignation of the Davis Cup Captain. It’s a tough situation and clearly something has to change – but without knowing the inner workings, politics and personalities inside the LTA it’s impossible to know who should be held accountable. However, it does make you wonder what more Lloyd could have done, and what difference a fresh face can make? If you don’t have the quality of players, with the ability to perform at the required level, then there really isn’t a lot you can do.

One thing that shouldn’t be overlooked is the young crop of LTA supported players that are showing signs of real potential. Maybe we’re expecting too much of the LTA too soon – maybe we just have to accept that there isn’t a quick fix, that it’s going to take time, and even then we may not produce a grand slam winner, especially if another Roger Federer comes along. Anyway, it’ll be an interesting story to follow. Defeat to Turkey in the next Davis Cup match would be, well, unthinkable. But then I’m sure I read something similar a few weeks ago before the Lithuania tie. I’m certainly not going to be sitting comfortably until that match is in the bag.

Huge congratulations must go to Ivan Ljubicic (nice sounding name that) who became the oldest ever first time winner of a Masters Series event when he over came Andy Roddick in the final of BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. The shockingly ancient Ljubicic ,31, defeated those pesky kids Nadal and Djokovic on his way to boosting his retirement fund.

Speaking of old men, when viewing the BBC sport pages this morning whilst enjoying a bowl of youthful coco pops, I almost covered my computer screen in chocolaty milk when I read a breaking news headline proclaiming that Tim Henman, 35, was returning to competitive tennis! It was only when I read the attached article that it became apparent that he was going to take part in the Aegeon Masters event at the Royal Albert Hall with the likes of John McEnroe and Pat Cash (I have sub consciously replaced the word ‘competing’ with the phrase ‘taking part’ that is a bit ageist, apologies). In all seriousness it will be great to see Tiger Tim back on court ‘competing’ again. The event starts on the 30^th Nov so look out for tickets!

So from one man we’ve missed to a team missing some key players. Last week saw Netball Superleague’s new superstar franchise, Surrey Storm, suffer their first defeat at the hands of Northern Thunder. It seems that the Guildford based side are missing the England defensive duo Mkloma and Mentor, who have now departed the UK for the ANZ Championships down under. Special mention has to go to Thunder’s shooter Karen Greig who produced an almost faultless performance, and to Bayman and Clarke who ran riot in the thirds.

Lastly a big well done to everyone and anyone who donated or took part in raising money for SportRelief last weekend or indeed over the past few months. The final total came in at over £29m so the amount of people who’ll really see the benefit of that is fantastic! Also if you haven’t had the chance yet make sure you see James Corden’s sketch at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. It was absolutely hilarious and at times really hit the nail on the head about British sport, and coming from someone who was not a fan of Gavin and Stacey that is saying something!

Anyways the Miami Masters starts tomorrow so I’ll post some thoughts on that once it’s underway, have a good week!

Filed under: General, netball, Tennis by tomt