Whitewash averted as Bogdanovic beats Woodbridge

Davis Cup: An 18-year-old left-hander saves his team's blushes but a depressing reality remains for British tennis

It was a dead rubber but, as a jubilant Alex Bogdanovic pointed out, a win is a win, and his defeat of Australia's legendary Todd Woodbridge in the first-round world group Davis Cup tie provided a small crumb of comfort for the depleted British team.

Bogdanovic's 6-2, 7-6 triumph over the veteran doubles player saved Great Britain from a whitewash in the tie at the International Tennis Centre in Sydney. With Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski out of action because of injuries, British officials had feared the worst when a team of virtual nonentities met an Australian line-up led by Lleyton Hewitt, the world No 1.

In the event, Britain's lowly-ranked players acquitted themselves respectably. They were not overawed by the big occasion; they fought for points and made their opponents work hard for their victories.

Alan Mackin, a 21-year-old Scot, put on a spirited show in the opening match on Friday against Mark Philippoussis, a former Grand Slam finalist, although he was beaten in straight sets. Arvind Parmar and Miles Maclagan managed to take a set off Hewitt and Woodbridge in the doubles rubber.

But it was the performance of 18-year-old Bogdanovic that provided the biggest glimmer of cheer amid the gloom. The Belgrade-born left-hander – like Mackin, a Davis Cup debutant – ran Hewitt around court on Friday and nearly won the first set, although his inexperience prevented him from exploiting his chances.

Yesterday, with a set in his pocket, he recovered from 2-5 down to take Woodbridge to a second set tie-break in the best-of-three sets final rubber. The Australian, who is one of the world's best doubles specialists but had not played singles for nearly two years, succumbed. Earlier, Wayne Arthurs had come back from one set down to beat Maclagan 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the other dead rubber.

Bogdanovic, ranked No 459, said: "It feels really great just to win any match. I know it was a dead rubber but for me, at this stage, that doesn't really matter. Whether it's a live rubber or a dead rubber, to win it is an unbelievable feeling.

"He's a tricky player. In the second set he moved me around a little bit and put on the pressure, then he got a bit tired and I had a few chances and I took them."

Great Britain now face a relegation play-off in September to avoid being evicted from the elite 16-nation world group. But so dire were the predictions before the tie that the 4-1 defeat prompted sighs of relief. The British team captain, Roger Taylor, said: "When we came out here, everyone said it was going to be a wipe-out." He was fulsome in his praise for Bogdanovic: "I was at the Australian Open, and Alex strikes the ball as well as anyone who was playing there," he said. "He has the talent, the ability to take the ball as early as the top players with high rankings. That comes down to character and personality, and he is very determined. This is very exciting for British tennis."

But even Bogdanovic's win could not disguise the depressing reality highlighted by Henman and Rusedski's absence. The pair are Britain's only world class players, they are aged 28 and 29 respectively and, once they retire, British tennis will be in a parlous state.

Years of hand-wringing and endless programmes and plans devised to rectify the situation have not helped. John Crowther, the chief executive officer of the Lawn Tennis Association, said yesterday: "We have to change the culture of social tennis in our country to one of competitive tennis, and we have embarked on that."

Crowther said that 112 performance clubs had already been set up around the country. "Over the coming years we want to develop a network of 500 or so, so that every child who has got some talent is within reasonable reach of a performance club. If you look at successful tennis players, they were probably born within 20 minutes of a covered court."

The number of people playing tennis has recovered from a slump in 2001, rising from 2.9 million to 3.5 million at the end of last year. Encouraging children to play is one problem; losing them to other sports at the age of 11 or 12 is another. The coaching system also suffers from a culture of mediocrity.

Bogdanovic, meanwhile, will return to earth with a bump next week when he plays in a third-tier Futures tournament in Redbridge, probably watched by a handful of people. His next tournament after that is in Wrexham. The roar of the crowd in Sydney will seem a long way away.