Bog standard - weak link Alex will do okay in Davis Cup says Lloyd

On Friday at Wimbledon Great Britain take on the middling tennis nation of Austria for the privilege of competing in next year’s World Group, the elite 16-team annual knockout competition.

No flagging chaps: Britain will have their work cut out at Wimbedon

Murray is back in his clean-shaven pomp for the three-day encounter, but the fact that the home team are only a 50-50 chance to win at best shows how far everyone else trails in his wake.

Progress is slowly being made, but the presence of Alex Bogdanovic as the second singles player is a measure of the state we are in.

The 24-year-old Londoner possesses some unenviable statistics as he prepares for a match which could well come down to a deciding fifth rubber on Sunday afternoon with him playing Austrian No 2 Alexander Peya.

The weightiest concern is his 0-7 singles record at Wimbledon, the second equal worst in history behind Chile’s Patricio Cornejo.

He won only three sets in those matches, although he did play decently this summer before losing in four sets to Italy’s Simone Bolelli.

Then there is his history in ‘live’ Davis Cup singles, losing all four and failing to win a single set.

A case could have been made for including unlikely summer hero Chris Eaton or the improving Josh Goodall, but there is no doubt that Bogdanovic, ranked 162, is currently Britain’s second most gifted player. In 2007 he even had a match point to beat Andy Roddick at Queen’s Club.

‘I look back to that Roddick match and he should have beaten him,’ said team captain John Lloyd of Bogdanovic, who faces Austrian No 1 Jurgen Melzer first up.

Nervous outlook: Bogdanovic's form will be crucial to chances of victory

‘When he played Roddick there were 5,000 people there and it was on TV but he
didn’t duff it. Sometimes in Davis Cup weeks he has got quieter as the tie has approached but here he has been nutty Boggo, laughing and messing around.

‘He has played a lot of practice singles against Andy this week. Andy is very competitive and wants to win every set, but he hasn’t won them all. Alex can open his shoulders and if he plays well Melzer is going to have a difficult match.’

Another sobering fact is that Friday is not a sell-out, with 3,000 places still available on Court No 1. It is not helped by the complacency  of the Lawn Tennis Association, who decided not to market the match locally.

Austria, who are without the injured Stefan Koubek, are not a great draw card, and certainly not the power they were in the early Nineties when spearheaded by Thomas Muster and the late Horst Skoff. However, in Melzer they have a wonderfully clean striker of the ball who won the junior Wimbledon title nine years ago.

Peya is a well-organised journeyman ranked 164 in the world but in 34-year-old Julian Knowle they have an excellent doubles specialist, ranked 15 in his field.

Knowle’s father was born in London and emigrated as a teenager; but his son is bucking the trend of anyone with a GB passport attaching themselves to the largesse of the British game.

Lloyd named Jamie Murray and Ross Hutchins as his doubles team, although that can be changed until an hour before Saturday's match, so there is still the strong possibility it will be the Murray brothers who try to ensure it does not all come down to Boggo on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Laura Robson’s first professional tournament came to an end in the second round of the Gaz de France Open in Limoges. She was forced to retire with a shoulder injury when trailing Russian Marina Melnikova 4-2.

(11am start)

Alex Bogdanovic (GB) v Jurgen Melzer (Au)

Andy Murray (GB) v Alexander Peya (Au)

TV times: BBC 2 & Sky Sports 2 (11am-7pm).