Petchey hoping to lay Cup ghosts
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Your support makes all the difference.Tim Henman's illness has placed Mark Petchey in the Davis Cup firing line against Slovenia at Newcastle today; or, as Britain's captain David Lloyd prefers, it has given the Essex man "a great chance to put behind him some of the ghosts he's had in singles''.
The last spectre was Razvan Sabau, a 17-year-old Romanian ranked below 700, who was twice a set down to Petchey on a grass court in Manchester two years ago but recovered to win the final rubber, completing Britain's most humiliating defeat.
Petchey's solitary victory in nine Davis Cup singles matches was accomplished in Manchester in 1991 against Thomas Muster - the Austrian clay-court specialist who won his first senior match on grass in a Davis Cup tie in South Africa in February this year, four days before rising to No 1 in the world.
Today, on a fast indoor carpet, Petchey, originally selected for doubles, faces the Slovenian No 1, Iztok Bozic, ranked 216 places below him at No 419. Before then, Lloyd trusts, the big-serving Greg Rusedski will have given his team a winning start against the Slovenian No 2, Borut Urh, ranked No 478.
For tomorrow's doubles, Rusedski has taken Petchey's place alongside Neil Broad - a partnership born in Canada and South Africa - against Urh and Gregor Krusic, who just about jogs the singles computer at No 1,257.
Should the Euro-African Zone Group II tie still be live on Sunday, Petchey contests the final rubber against Urh after Rusedski has played Bozic.
Petchey, while sympathising with Henman, views his promotion as an opportunity rather than an ordeal. "It's nice to get another chance, and I'm looking forward to it," he said. "It's different for me now. I'm coming on the team now as a doubles player and as a No 3 singles player in case someone gets sick. I hope I play to the way I've been practising.''
Lloyd hopes so, too, having given his brother, John, the team coach, the task of relaxing Petchey for his return to singles. "I think a lot of people watching us practise might think we are not taking it seriously, but we are taking it very seriously," Lloyd said. "It's very important for Mark to feel relaxed, because he's a very tight person and in the past has tended to tense up on his serve a bit.''
Today: Rusedski v Urh; Petchey v Bozic. Tomorrow: Rusedski and Broad v Urh and Krusic. Sunday: Rusedksi v Bozic; Petchey v Urh.
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