Betfair Turbo Tennis winner Andy Murray has a whole new challenge on his hands today

Davis Cup Betting / Sean Calvert / 21 September 2007 / Leave a Comment

Tennis guru Sean Calvert looks back at the inaugural Betfair Turbo Tennis and ahead at a Davis Cup tie that GB simply have to win

This weekend sees Tim Henman's final competitive match, which has rather overshadowed another vitally important Davis Cup play-off fixture for Great Britain - this time the opponents are Croatia.

Of course, both myself and the other members of the sizable crowd last Saturday at the O2 Arena were denied a last opportunity to watch the Tiger in action when he withdrew from the Betfair Turbo Tennis event due to the birth of his third child.

Greg Rusedski happily took Tim's place against crowd favourite, Goran Ivanisevic, and it was the Croat, who was asked about his availability for the Davis Cup tie if rumours are to be believed, that prevailed and took on James Blake in the semi finals.

The atmosphere inside the former Millenium Dome was very much akin to a Davis Cup tie and the players needed to adapt quickly to the rules of Turbo Tennis, which some managed rather better than others.

Ivanisevic managed to oust favourite, James Blake, to make the final against Andy Murray, who collected a cool £50,000 for his day's efforts, after a straightforward victory over a now creaking Goran, who had more than his fair share of support from the British crowd. Take note young Mr Murray.

Indeed, Andy can expect a bit more support today as he kicks off the cup-tie at Wimbledon against Marin Cilic. He looks a little on the short side to be backing outright for this match at 1.26, but he should get Britain off to a winning start.

Henman on the other hand looks terrific value to see off Ivan Ljubicic at 2.80. Tim showed us in New York that he still possesses the skills and the bottle for a big match and that looks the bet of the weekend against an opponent who has never done well on the grass of SW19 and has been out of sorts this year.

The Murray Brothers will no doubt be teaming up in the doubles and I expect them to emerge victorious against a Croatian side weakened by the loss of Ancic and Karlovic, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that GB could take an unassailable 3-0 lead into Saturday's reverse singles ties.

This is Henman we're talking about though and anything can happen, so it may be wise to wait until Murray loses a set or Henman looks down and out (both of which will almost certainly happen), before steaming in to the outright win market, which is currently priced at 1.55 for a home win.

The memories of Ecuador and the Lapentti brothers are still at the forefront of my mind, but Tim's farewell combined with Croatia's weakened side must hand GB the edge in this one and I predict a home win, but not without many nervy moments along the way.

Of course, the real work begins for Great Britain after this match, when the search for a new team takes priority. Murray's injury record suggests that he will not be the regular that John Lloyd hopes and that leaves us with the Alex Bogdanovics of this world to compete in the World Group if we beat Croatia.

That won't be good enough and it again highlights the much-debated issue of the lack of British tennis talent coming through the ranks.

That debate is for another day though. This weekend is all about cheering on Tim for one last time.