Welcome back to Net Talk. This is our section for tennis comment and analysis. As well as commenting on the latest issues in the game, I'll include links to things such as our regular betting tips. But I also want you to contribute. I'm happy to publish some of your comments and answer, if I can, any questions you may have about all things tennis. The email address is: tennisfeedback@sportinglife.com.
Suggestions are also welcome. The page will be regularly updated, so don't forget to check back soon.
Andy Schooler
FINAL THROW OF LLOYD'S DICE? - posted February 23
There will be few people watching the action at the National Tennis Centre at Roehampton this week, but the results of the matches should be eagerly-anticpated by British fans.
For a place in Great Britain's Davis Cup team is up for grabs.
Such is the lack of depth in the men's game in this country that captain John Lloyd has taken a new approach as he launches Team GB's latest bid to regain a place in the elite World Group.
He has decided to make six of Britain's leading 'hopefuls' play-off for the second singles spot, Andy Murray being totally assured of his place.
It's a move that has attracted some criticism, the critics' theory being that arguably the captain's biggest role is to decide who should play.
By instigating a play-off he has to a large degree absolved himself of this responsibility. The form player will play - if any player wins all three matches they play at Roehampton they will be picked - is his approach now.
However, you can understand why he has acted in such a way.
Any Davis Cup tie that has not featured at least two of Murray, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski in recent years has been virtually impossible to win, basically because no-one from the 'second tier' of British tennis has stepped up to the plate.
In fact you have to go all the way back to 1997 to find the last Briton other than the aforementioned trio to have won a live rubber in the competition. For the record that man was Andrew Richardson, who beat Zimbabwe's Byron Black.
Since then there has been a long line of failures, the latest being Alex Bogdanovic last September when, with a place in the World Group there for the taking, he blew a one-set lead and duly lost the deciding rubber to Austria's Alexander Peya.
As a result, the Austrians will be taking on the mighty Germany next month. Britain host minnows Ukraine in the Euro-Africa Zone.
Bogdanovic's defeat highlighted a secondary problem that Lloyd's lack of depth presents.
The number two singles player always plays the final rubber. As number one, Murray plays rubbers two and four. So unless Murray also wins the doubles rubber, Britain's ties will more often than not end up being decided in the fifth.
Bogdanovic's defeat to Peya means that Britain have now lost their last six live fifth rubbers - a statistic that simply has to change.
Whether Lloyd's new system, which could be regarded as his final throw of the dice, manages to produce the desired effect remains to be seen.
We will watch with interest.
Let us know your thoughts on Britain's Davis Cup team and the selection policy. Send us your tennis feedback to tennisfeedback@sportinglife.com
THREE CHEERS FOR GB'S WOMEN - posted February 11
It may have caused barely a ripple on the waters of the tennis world, but the efforts of Great Britain's Fed Cup team in Estonia last week deserve to be applauded.
OK, they ultimately missed out on their goal of gaining a place in the World Group play-offs, but not by much.
The team of Anne Keothavong, Mel South, Elena Baltacha and Sarah Borwell whitewashed all three of their group opponents before landing arguably the toughest draw for their must-win final match - Poland.
With the Poles boasting world number nine Agnieszka Radwanska in their line-up, it was always going to a tough ask and Britain's promotion bid was finally ended in the decisive doubles rubber.
Of course, it's hardly surprising this news possibly didn't even appear in your daily newspaper - after all no trophies were at stake in Tallinn - but the action there did show just how far Britain's women have come over the past year or so.
Twelve months ago they lost all three of their group matches in the Europe-Africa Zone I and only just managed to stave off relegation back to Zone II where they were last playing in the dark days of 2004.
Under the tutelage of the LTA's Nigel Sears and Carl Maes, Britain's women have really progressed since then, as was shown when the country had four representatives in the main draw of last month's Australian Open.
That improvement is also shown in the WTA ranking list, where Keothavong has just hit a new career high and looks set to crack the world's top 50 for the first time in the coming weeks.
To be that good in your chosen sphere is no mean feat.
Meanwhile South recently broke into the singles top 100 for the first time, doubles specialist Borwell did likewise in her discipline, while Baltacha also hit a career high earlier this year.
It means Great Britain could well have three players in the world's top 100 in the very near future.
That's something that hasn't happened for many years and is also certainly a much healthier position than Britain's men find themselves in.
OK, none of the female players is challenging for major honours (and in all likelihood never will) but Andy Murray's headline-making ability overshadows a serious lack of depth - something that will rear its head again when GB take on Ukraine in the Davis Cup next month.
And here's a final thought to leave you with.
Try comparing Britain's women to those of the United States.
Take away the Williams sisters - and the younger Serena is already 27 - and that nation of 300million inhabitants has just two players in the top 100.
It may not be long before GB and the US are in the same boat.
Bring back the Wightman Cup!
Do you agree with Andy? Send us your tennis back to tennisfeedback@sportinglife.com
THE BEST GOT BETTER? - posted February 5
I have to admit it was only last month I was questioning whether Rafael Nadal would win a hardcourt Grand Slam.
Consider me firmly put in my place.
Just how the Spaniard managed to recover from his five-hour-14-minute semi-final - the longest singles match in tournament history - to play to such a high standard in the final I, and many others, will never know.
Essentially his fitness levels are probably the best tennis has ever seen. Can anyone remember seeing Nadal tired on the court?
He certainly outlasted final opponent Roger Federer in Melbourne, the Swiss seeming to struggle in the final set. Had he not done so, I would probably be writing about the match usurping last year's Wimbledon final in terms of quality.
With the hardcourt duck firmly broken, Nadal has quashed any lingering doubts about who is the number one player in the world.
Now is the time to consider new goals - and it appears the sky is the limit.
First up could be the completion of a career Grand Slam later this year.
Victory in Melbourne means the only major to elude the 'Pearl of Manacor' is the US Open and frankly if he reproduces the same form in August and September then he's got to be fancied to become only the sixth player in history to win all four Slams.
On top of that, there's already been talk of a calendar year Grand Slam - something only Rod Laver (in 1969) has achieved since the game was opened to professionals in the 1960s.
With the Aussie title in the bag, Nadal is already a red-hot favourite to win a fifth successive French Open crown. A successful defence of his Wimbledon title would then leave just the US Open.
Apart from the obvious factor of consistency, the key to achieving such a fabled feat will surely be good scheduling. While Nadal's on-court game can hardly be faulted in recent years, there's no doubt his off-court planning hasn't helped his cause.
He's always had a punishing claycourt schedule in the spring (in fairness, his support of the Spanish tournament in Barcelona should be applauded) but it has nearly always resulted in him struggling in the final months of the season.
In 2008 Nadal played almost non-stop from the start of the clay campaign in mid-April until the end of the grasscourt campaign in early July.
Frankly you'd have thought Nadal could turn up at Roland Garros and win there with virtually no preparation, so perhaps this year he will leave something in the tank for the American summer hardcourt season. If he does, greatness could follow.
And that brings one final possible goal - becoming the most decorated player of all time.
Before Sunday's match, Federer was odds-on to join Pete Sampras at the top of the all-time Grand Slam wins list. For now he remains stuck on 13.
So are those figures ones Nadal can hope to emulate?
Undoubtedly yes.
At the age of 22, he already has six, equalling the career tally of greats such as Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg. Sampras had four at the same age, Federer just two.
Clearly he has to keep producing at the highest level, but it's something that's been happening for a while now.
Nadal now owns three of the four major titles, while he's won the last four French and played in the last three Wimbledon finals. With the hardcourts no longer appearing such a problem, he could easily be in double figures by the end of 2010.
All of this, of course, remains a long way off and is very much dependent upon fitness.
That may seem a funny thing to say about Nadal, but the one thing that remains a concern with regard the world number one is his career longevity.
Not only are there questions about how long he can keep playing the style of get-everything-back tennis he does, but more pertinently how long can his body stay in one piece?
A stress fracture of the foot has already been suffered, while tendonitis in the knee appears to be something that isn't going to go away.
It was interesting to see that in the wake of his latest triumph, Nadal spoke of how the game's governing bodies needed to stage fewer events on hardcourts - the surface which puts so much strain on the joints. Like the gentleman he is, Nadal only brought this subject up after he hadwon a major - he didn't want his comments to be taken as an excuse.
Whether he is listened to is another matter and a debate for another day, but for now let's relish what could lie in store for the Mallorcan.
A few more matches like the Australian Open final would be a start.
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