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Bogdanovic the pick of Britain's best of the rest

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Tennis commentator Barry Millns takes a look at the British tennis players, bar the Murrays, who could make an impact in 2008

In less than two months time Andy and Jamie Murray will spearhead Britain's attempt to win a Davis Cup World Group tie away to Argentina on clay. It is a formidable task and while both brothers will face the challenge head-on, the chances of them toppling a country with so many more world-class players to choose from seem decidedly slim.

Right now, if you exclude the retired Tim Henman and Lee Childs from the list, Britain has only five players ranked in the world's Top 500 (five years ago it was 11). Argentina currently has 38, with 11 of them ranked inside the Top 100!

There are actually 12 British women in the world's Top 500 but it is years since any female from this country stood inside the Top 100. So aside from the 'Dunblane duo', what hope is there of any of the rest making significant headlines in 2008?

Let's start with Britain's No.2 Alex Bogdanovic, aged 23 and ranked 190th in the world having reached as high as 108th in June. That slip in itself should tell you something about the talented but fragile lefthander, who once made the US Open junior semi-finals, but has struggled like to push on up as a professional.

Some painful Davis Cup experiences have not helped 'Bogo' but his minor highlights this year included clinching a Challenger title in Valencia, USA, winning two rounds of the Artois Championships at Queen's before narrowly losing to eventual champion Andy Roddick. Beyond that, though, the Serbian-born left-hander lost five successive first round matches on the ATP Tour before returning to the Challenger circuit with little success.

If he is going to back up the Murrays in Buenos Aires and beyond, Bogdanovic needs to show a marked upturn mentally and the (last) hope now is that Brad Gilbert, no longer coaching Andy Murray (currently trading at [27] for the Australian Open), will be the man to make something of Bogdanovic. Trying to qualify for the first grand slam of 2008 should give some indication of how that is going.

Next in line, Jamie Baker, aged 21, reached a career-high ranking last month of 211, having risen over 100 places since the start of the season. Runner-up at the Waikoloa Challenger at the start of 2007, he reached three other Challenger semi-finals, plus the second round at Queen's with a fine win over the much higher ranked Alexander Peya, before losing to Bogdanovic.

Baker's initial target for 2008, apart from making the team to take on Argentina, will be to break into the Top 200. Also worth keeping an eye on will be Britain's two other doubles players, apart from Jamie Murray, ranked inside the Top 100 - James Auckland and Ross Hutchins but, having said that, where a Murray's not involved the chances of British male success next season again seem thin on the ground.

Britain's top four women, Katie O'Brien, Anne Keothavong, Elena Baltacha and Naomi Cavaday all rank inide the Top 200. Yet, even including Keothavong's surprising run to the semi-finals in Kolkata in September, they have so far failed to show the consistency required to bridge the gap between Satellites and WTA Tour events.

Cavaday, who is somewhat leaner now than she was when she lost a final set 6-0 to Martina Hingis in the first round of Wimbledon, is still only 18 and with Henman's former coach David Felgate in her corner, the next couple of seasons could produce a breakthrough. Yet it is going to take more than the state-of-the-art National Tennis Centre at Roehampton and some world-class coaches to make a significant improvement to British tennis if the players are not totally committed.

The highly-publicised suspensions in September of two of Britain's leading juniors, David Rice and Naomi Broady, for 'bad behaviour' underlined the problem. Maybe the message is starting to get through - with the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl tournament for 14-and-under, plus 12-and-under age groups taking place this week in Florida, there have already been a dozen first round British winners.