Cold reality thwarts Bates' cunning plan

What Bates had done, again using a cricketing analogy, was akin to England's strategic use of fielding substitutes in the recent Ashes series; not against the law but not strictly in the spirit of the game. Until two years ago, countries nominated their best two players, plus perhaps a doubles team, for Davis Cup and were not permitted to change the line-up unless a doctor's certificate was flourished.

Then the International Tennis Federation decided to permit the switching of players within the named squad. Hence Bates's decision to play mind games against the Swiss, by leaving his No 1, Greg Rusedski, on the sidelines, and elevating his No 2, Andy Murray.

The Davis Cup requires a nation's No 1 player to be opposed by the opposing country's No 2 on the first day's singles, so this meant that Murray dodged a clash with Federer and was sent in against Stanislas Wawrinka, while poor Alan Mackin, 262 in the rankings and without a single victory on the men's tour to his name, was made the most embarrassing of sacrificial offerings to Federer. All that was missing was a sprig of mint in the mouth as he was devoured by the incomparable world No 1.

It was only a sacrifice worth making if Murray came through against Wawrinka. There were, however, a couple of elephant trap-sized holes in this thinking. The Swiss, utterly certain that Federer could beat any British player on any surface, chose his least favourite one, clay, precisely because it is Wawrinka's best.

So Murray, on his singles debut in the competition, faced a clay specialist who is only 20 but who has made good enough progress to lodge himself at 60 in the world rankings.

Down went the new Scottish hero, in slightly grumpy fashion and in straight sets. The manner of this defeat was a disappointment, not least to Bates, and no amount of subsequent bravado could disguise the nature of the setback. As Federer said, after completing what he confirmed was the easiest Davis Cup win of his career: "If Britain lose this tie, then they took a horrible decision."

He said he had been surprised by the choice to send in Mackin against him, but was not of the opinion that the thinking behind it might be construed as against the spirit of the game. Roger is much too polite a chap for that sort of comment, especially after the easiest hour-and-a-quarter's work he will ever face on a tennis court.

Fred Perry once won a Wimbledon final in two-thirds of the time it took Federer to thrash Mackin, but they didn't sit down at the changeovers in those days.

So, to the tune of their battle cry, Hopp Suisse, the home crowd were put in the happiest of moods by Federer, and got right behind Wawrinka, Swiss-born with a German father, Czech grandparents and of Polish lineage, who left school at 15 to turn himself into a successful tennis professional, something in which he is doing rather well.

Helped by some questionable shot selection by Murray at key moments, Wawrinka surged to a merited and crucial win. As Bates conceded before looking for hope in yesterday's doubles: "Realistically, we had to win two against this guy. Compared to Roger, he is the weaker part of the team, but you can't call that weak." Certainly against Murray there was occasional wildness, but no weakness.