Becker calls on Tim Henman

Boris Becker has called for Tim Henman to save British tennis from the doldrums it currently finds itself in.

However, the three-time Wimbledon champion refused to blame captain John Lloyd for the embarrassing Davis Cup defeat by Lithuania.

Lloyd is considering his future after becoming the first GB captain to lead the side to five successive defeats, which has left them on the verge of dropping into Europe/Africa Zone Group III, the lowest tier of the competition.

But Becker believes the problem lies more with the players provided to him than the captain himself, and would love to see four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Henman involved in turning things around.

Henman and former British rival Greg Rusedski are being linked with the Davis Cup captaincy, and Becker said: "I would like to see Tim involved in some shape or form because I think he's a big role model.

"He has shown not that long ago that he's one of the best players, he's not talking about something that happened 50 years ago.

"It's very difficult to speak the language of the kids today, some of the 15 or 16-year-olds are much older than their actual age and you have to be not too far away from them in years to have some sort of communication with them.

"I think Tim would have that, plus he was a great player."

Becker, who was speaking ahead of the Laureus World Sports Awards in Abu Dhabi, admits he is baffled by the state of British tennis considering the vast amounts of funding given to the Lawn Tennis Association every year by Wimbledon.

And the former Wimbledon champion has no time for those who blame the pressure of expectations on the failings of Britain's tennis players - Andy Murray obviously excluded.

"Pressure? This is a cheap excuse because every nation has that," Becker added. "The pressure of playing for Great Britain and getting wild cards to Wimbledon and playing at (the National Tennis Centre at) Roehampton isn't pressure.

"Pressure is if you have nothing to eat and you have to win the next round to feed your family. That's pressure.

"I don't understand it. With such a history of tennis, with Wimbledon, with Roehampton, one of the greatest tennis centres I have ever seen... why you struggle so much as a nation, I don't get it.

"There must be youngsters somewhere in the country who can play tennis. The big question is who is in charge of picking them and what are the coaches looking for? But something must be going really bad for it not to happen.

"Results speak for themselves. You can always have a bad game, a bad six months, but this is happening almost on a regular basis. It's not a one-off.

"When (LTA chief executive) Roger Draper came in he had a good plan, in my opinion. It all sounded good but the coaches have to deliver and the players have to win.

"John Lloyd was a good coach for a number of years and knows what he is talking about but he is dependent on the other coaches providing him with the best players, so his hands are tied.

"To change the Davis Cup captain is not the remedy in my opinion. It starts lower, with the local coaches and the county coaches. They provide the grassroots training. That must be where the problem starts."

Former Davis Cup player Mark Petchey agrees the solution lies at grassroots level and believes the National Tennis Centre is part of the problem.

He told Sky Sports News: "I think British tennis is in a pretty shocking state right now. The money that's being spent at the top end of the game is astronomical.

"It's not getting into the grassroots and ever since the idea of a National Tennis Centre at Roehampton, I said this is going to be the biggest white elephant ever in British tennis."

Murray's former coach added: "It's not John Lloyd's fault, it's not the players' fault, but fundamentally the system's fault for not being able to produce players and, ultimately, until we change it around, then we'll just be throwing more money down the drain."