John Lloyd, the Great Britain Davis Cup captain, has axed Alex Bogdanovic from his squad for the crucial Euro-African Zone relegation clash against Ukraine in Odessa next month.
Lloyd was unimpressed by the British number four’s straight-sets loss to Israel’s Noam Okun in July and said: “I have spoken to Alex and told him he will not be involved in the next match.”
Having failed to convince Tim Henman to come out of Davis Cup retirement and with Greg Rusedski battling injuries, new captain Lloyd faces tough choices for a match he admits Britain must win.
He said: “This is a match we have got to win; then next year will be a time when I am willing to take a few chances.
“We won’t be putting sticking plasters on, we will push forward. I will spend more time with the younger players and decide which of them we are going to take forward with us.”
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Lloyd’s search for a long-term doubles pair could lead him to Andy Murray’s older brother Jamie, who is pushing for his debut after reaching a top-level tour final in Los Angeles last month.
But despite a recent knock back, he insisted he has still not given up all hope of tempting Henman into a return to Davis Cup action next year.
Lloyd added: “Tim is not going to be available for this match, but never say never. I would love to have him involved in some capacity in the future, even if it is just practising with the players.”
Despite awful recent form, Lloyd’s men will start favourites for victory with Ukraine boasting only one player, the 190th-ranked Sergey Stakhovskiy, inside the world’s top 200.