• Chris Wilkinson

Money can't buy the hunger to succeed

Lithuania pulled off a stunning victory over Great Britain in the Davis Cup © Getty Images

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The Lawn Tennis Association have got some real questions to answer after Britain's Davis Cup defeat to Lithuania. It is worrying time for British tennis. There has been a huge amount of money poured into British tennis and there is absolutely nothing to show for it.

Lithuania have just three ranked players in the world, and as a nation they have a tennis budget of £90,000, compared with the LTA's £29.2million. And yet despite the massive gulf in funding, facilities and coaching they were able to produce a victory in the Davis Cup.

And what made the difference was that Lithuania wanted to win. They had the hunger, they were able to rise to the occasion. On paper Laurynas Grigelis, ranked outside of the world's top 500, should have lost both of his singles rubbers. But in that situation, under pressure he played well beyond himself. Lithuania are not as good as Britain, but when it came down to that final rubber, Lithuania wanted it more. In their home tie, the underdogs won the tie and they proved a real point.

If Murray had played we would definitely have won the tie, but I still think he made the right decision to pass up the tie and focus on his preparation for Indian Wells in the States. But the fact of the matter is that with the players who went to Vilnius, Britain still should have won the tie. It is a worrying result for Britain.

We really need to take a look at what is going on with the LTA. Huge amounts of funding have been poured into the system; into coaching and facilities. We have got a multi-million-pound national training centre, but that does not produce the hunger to win. Lithuania hasn't got the facilities, but they wanted it more on the tennis court, and that's the crucial difference.

It is amazing how some players can raise their game, but it never seems to be a British player. Grigelis is ranked outside of the top 500, he's still only 18, but on that day in that environment he was able to produce something.

After the defeat to Lithuania we have dropped to a new low. But now we have dropped to the lowest we can be in tennis. It is not good enough and there are a lot of questions that need to be answered.

The LTA is clearly not getting it right, and there are a lot of different avenues that need to be explored. Money has been made available for top quality coaches over the years like Brad Gilbert and Peter Lundgren, the best in the business, but we haven't had the results to show for it.

The LTA have invested heavily in facilities in recent years © Getty Images

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It is partly a social factor. If you look at the Eastern Bloc, to be good at sport is a way of escaping poverty - just look at the number of Russian ladies players. Over here the youngsters playing tennis have a nice life, a nice house, nice family, and a good education. They don't have the same desire to succeed.

John Lloyd has now lost five Davis Cup ties in a row, which is not a record to be proud of. Sport is usually very results driven and if this were a football manager he would be out. But John has got a lot of experience, he has been there, and Britain are so low that it doesn't really matter now. They will play Turkey in July, and it doesn't really matter who is going to be captain.

Greg Rusedki is a name that has been linked with the job. He knows the players well, he has the experience, and he would be a good choice to call upon.

Rusedski is never going to be fully British, but in sport these days loyalty to your country has pretty much gone. In the past I was against a player changing his nationality overnight. I don't think it's fair on the team or on the players. But even though Greg is not British born, he has got what it takes and he would get the team motivated.

Chris Wilkinson is a former British No. 1. He joins ESPN.co.uk as our resident expert, providing an exclusive view on the world of tennis.

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