David Lloyd says LTA chief should resign after Davis Cup shambles

The former Davis Cup captain David Lloyd has called on the Lawn Tennis Association chief executive, Roger Draper, to resign following Britain's 3-2 defeat to Lithuania in the competition. Lloyd, whose brother John is the British team's current captain, told the BBC that Draper has failed to produce home-grown talent. "Where are the male players that the LTA has actually produced? Zero. That's the bottom line," he said. "How do you keep your job if you are failing? I think Roger should walk. I don't see it getting better." Britain's Davis Cup team, without the world No4 Andy Murray, lost to a Lithuania team composed entirely of teenagers. When Murray, backed by Draper, announced in January that he would concentrate instead on preparing for the season's first Masters Series event in Indian Wells, he joked: "It's not like if I don't play we will lose." Now Britain must beat Turkey in a play-off in July if they are to avoid relegation into the bottom tier of the competition. "Roger is wrong endorsing the fact that Andy shouldn't have played. That was a bad call," continued Lloyd. "I would try and encourage him to play and give something back to the game. I would ask him to play against Turkey. We want him to help our young kids. We all owe something to the game." Draper was appointed as chief executive of the LTA in 2006 after modernising Sport England, but his hiring of the high-profile coach Brad Gilbert failed to galvanise the men's game. The American stepped down from his coaching role with Murray after just 16 months and ended his association with the LTA altogether when his contract expired in September 2008. Lloyd was part of the last Great Britain team to reach the Davis Cup final in 1978, playing doubles with Mark Cox as the US won 4-1 California. He later founded the chain of sports and leisure clubs that bear his name.