Ask anyone who has been part of a successful Davis Cup team and they will tell you the importance of doubles. Invariably it is the pivotal confrontation of the tie. Run down the great line-ups in the competition and you will see a host of legendary partnerships: McEnroe and Fleming, Newcombe and Roche, Woodforde and Woodbridge, Edberg and Jarryd.
One reason why Spain have won the title two years in a row is that Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez have been lifelong friends, know each other’s game intuitively and provide a bedrock to the line-up.
Britain’s decline in the competition in recent times has been sad to watch and no fun to chronicle. The word disappointment barely covers the despondency felt in three successive home defeats. In a couple of weeks John Lloyd’s team attempt to end the losing run in the ignominious surroundings of the Euro/Africa Zone Group Two (effectively the competition’s third division) against the might of Lithuania.
Lloyd’s policy since taking over from Jeremy Bates as captain has always been fairly rigid. Avoid picking a specific doubles team and instead partner a specialist with, if possible, the star singles player. Yet in the 11 ties Britain have played in the five years since a young Andy Murray made his debut in the competition, they have won only three doubles matches.
One featured the long-retired Tim Henman, another Greg Rusedski and in the past four ties Britain have suffered two straight-sets doubles defeats. Things have to change in Vilnius. Lloyd should change his policy so that Britain’s rapidly emerging and hugely committed tandem of Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski must become an automatic selection.
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Scotland’s Fleming and Liverpudlian Skupski are not only settled, they insist they will stay together throughout the season. They are upwardly mobile on the ATP World Tour doubles rankings, standing at 54th and 53rd position respectively.
Yet a year ago Skupski, aged 26 and a left-hander, was ranked 233 and Fleming, a year younger and right-handed, was 100 places lower. Neither was anywhere close to the Australian Open. In fact, they had lost disappointingly in the first round of a third-tier Futures event in Sheffield to Oliver Evans and Andrew Fitzpatrick, their fellow Britons.
Credit is due for their stoic desire to establish a reputation in the game after both made the adolescent decision that life at university was preferable than grinding it out on the tennis road. Skupski headed to Louisiana State University while Fleming, formerly Jamie Murray’s long-term partner, went to Stirling and began a degree in business studies.
Both learnt lessons in resilience and they are reaping the benefits. In June, Lloyd watched the pair knock the world’s leading doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan out of the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club. They won their first ATP title at Metz In September and their second a month later in St Petersburg. The feats included victories over established doubles teams such as Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra and Israel’s Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich.
The grand-slam tournaments are their natural platform and they were far too accomplished for the partnership of Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic and Yen-Hsun Lu, of Tapei, in the Australian Open.
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Any team worth their salt have ambitions. Fleming and Skupski want to become one of the eight partnerships to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour finals at London’s 02 Arena at the end of the year. That is a tall ask but they also crave a chance in the Davis Cup and correctly believe they have done enough to force Lloyd to change his selection policy.
Fleming made his international debut when he was called into service alongside Ross Hutchins against Ukraine in March and far from disgraced himself. He and Skupsi are keen to point out that their understanding and confidence in each other gives their combination far more potential.
Defeat against Lithuania is an embarrassment we must not suffer. Britain have to salvage some Davis Cup pride. Andy Murray has announced he won’t make the trip to Vilnius but Skupski and Fleming must be on that airplane.