Lloyd battling to keep Murray on board as Britain crash to defeat

Future in doubt: Andy Murray did his bit by winning both singles matches but felt he was let down by the rest of the British team as they lost to Austria

Captain John Lloyd will make the most important telephone call of his long Davis Cup career tomorrow when he tries to convince Andy Murray not to turn his back on the Great Britain team.

If Murray goes, there will be calls for Lloyd's head, with Tim Henman the obvious candidate to take over after Britain were relegated from the World Group after yesterday's 3-2 defeat by Austria at Wimbledon.

They will find out in Madrid tomorrow who they will face next year in Euro/Africa Group One but there must be doubts about world No4 Murray's participation, given that his main priority is to break into the world's top three.

On the evidence of the Scot's departure from Wimbledon last night - his two singles victories were the only success - there will have to be a huge change for Murray to make himself available.

His wide-ranging rebuke for team-mates and those running the GB side included an insistence that players such as Alex Bogdanovic, Ross Hutchins and his own brother Jamie had to start showing the kind of on-court emotion he brings to every contest.

Murray defeated Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 but Britain were killed off by Bogdanovic's ninth successive failure on grass at Wimbledon. He went down 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to Alexander Peya, ranked two places below him at No164.

Significantly, Murray disappeared from court side at the start of the third set and brother Jamie was also missing from the team bench in the final set of Bogdanovic's match.

Murray said: "Alex (Bogdanovic) was in a position to win the match today and you have to seize those opportunities. I played well and showed a lot of emotion but in other matches there weren't any fist pumps or "c'mons" and I want to see the crowd getting involved. Even if it means breaking at racket on court, I want to see they really, really care.

"It is tough for me in the Davis Cup, but I showed by the way I played that I love to take part.

However, if I am going to sacrifice myself to play I want every single person in the team making that same sacrifice and giving everything they have got. I want everyone to do that so I know they want to win as badly as I do.

"If that happens then it will drive me to play but if not, then it will demotivate me.

"Just because I am the best player in the team doesn't mean I should have to say these things.

That's not right. Jamie and Ross will be disappointed with the way they played in the doubles and we need a second singles player.

"I don't know when someone else is going to come through to play singles, but a lot of money is being invested in British tennis at the moment."

Lloyd admits he will have to work hard to keep Murray on board and said: "I pick the team and I want Andy in it.

"Obviously, I hope he wants to play for his country and if he doesn't, then we may have to take a view that this is the right time to try some of the youngsters coming through. We would have to rebuild."

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