Henman: Davis Cup loss did us good

Chris Jones13 April 2012

Tim Henman today said the humiliating loss to Ecuador at Wimbledon 14 months ago had been the motivation for one of Great Britain?s best Davis Cup results on foreign soil when they completed a 4-1 win against the South Americans.

Victory puts Britain back into the elite World Group and Henman, who won singles and doubles rubbers with Greg Rusedski, said: ?It was a pretty painful loss to Ecuador 14 months ago and this was a great opportunity to prove to ourselves that we could win a tie like this.?

Henman and Rusedski celebrated by carrying the Union Jack around the court before the entire travelling party leapt fully clothed into the Club Nacional swimming pool in Guayaquil. Rusedski said: ?It was just a really good team effort and I think it?s probably the best tie we?ve played as a team so far. To be away in Ecuador on red clay, which historically isn?t our best surface, and to come out and win three straight points right away, we couldn?t ask for more.?

Captain Roger Taylor said Rusedski?s victory against Nicolas Lapentti was one of the greatest he had witnessed by a Briton in the Davis Cup. ?I can think of Buster Mottram winning two in Rome the year Great Britain got to the final in 1978,? he said.

?Greg?s performance against Nicolas on Friday is right up there. It was incredible and equal to any of the best in Davis Cup matches played away from home.?

Britain?s next test comes in February and they haven?t won a World Group match since 1986, when Spain were beaten 4-1 in Telford. But Taylor believes his team?s win has ended the fear factor on clay.

Taylor said: ?This victory gives us great confidence and we can now believe in ourselves, that, if we draw an away tie on clay no longer will we go in there and think we can?t win it.?

Henman added: ?The Davis Cup is still unchartered territory in many ways, but if we can stay healthy we can look forward to the challenge.To be back in the World Group is massively important.?

Croatia also won a place in the top flight as Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic steered his country to victory over Italy.

The left-hander was beaten in his opening match by unheralded Filippo Volandri in five tough sets but Ivan Ljubicic levelled the match with victory over Federico Luzzi.

The Croatians teamed up to beat the Italian pairing of Giorgio Galimberti and Mose Navarra in a five-set thriller and Ivanisevic sealed the win with a 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Luzzi.

Alex Corretja and Juan Balcells secured Spain?s spot by beating Uzbekistan pair Oleg Ogorodov and Vadim Kutsenko 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Spain won the Davis Cup for the first time last year but were forced into a play-off to retain their top flight status after suffering a defeat by The Netherlands on an unfamiliar indoor carpet surface.

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