Monday Rain....

A mixed day really as Barcelona was rained off for most of the day so I have some outstanding bets to complete today hopefully. There was only one bet that was a second bet in a sequence that lost and that took it to a loss for the day. This was from a total of 16 markets that I entered for the day.

Still plenty of bets I hope as we are still in the early rounds and we usually get lots of action at this stage. I am still a bit annoyed with myself for raising stakes slightly so early on, I could be on a much higher bank by now so it will test the discipline to keep to these stakes until I get back to where I was, despite being in a decent profit still anyway.



Meanwhile, here is a story from Sporting Life about Murray saying he is still not sure if he is going to be playing Davis Cup tennis for his country this year...

MURRAY MAINTAINS DAVIS CUP STANCE

By Eleanor Crooks, Press Association Sport

Andy Murray has told new Davis Cup captain Leon Smith that the pair's close relationship will not mean he is more likely to represent his country against Turkey in July.

Smith was named as the replacement for John Lloyd, who resigned following a fifth consecutive defeat against Lithuania last month.

Murray chose to miss that match and said he would decide whether to play Davis Cup on a match-by-match basis.

And the world number four insists that is still the case despite the appointment of Smith, who coached Murray during his junior career, as captain and head of men's tennis.

"Leon's my friend but I need to still do what's right for me," said his fellow Scot. "If I want to play, I'm playing for the team, it's not that I'm playing because Leon's the captain.

"I hope that was not the reason why he became captain. I don't think that's the way to make a decision on something as big as this.

"I'll have to wait and see come July. But, again, it's a tie that I feel we should be able to win, even if I don't play."

Murray has been outspoken about the failings in British tennis and he did not play down the size of the task facing his former mentor if he is to turn results around.

"It's a huge, huge responsibility for him," added the 22-year-old. "It's going to be very difficult, and he needs to make sure he surrounds himself with the right people to help him and give him that experience."

Smith accepted that it must be Murray's decision whether he plays in the competition, and Lawn Tennis Association player director Steven Martens stressed the pair's ongoing friendship was not the reason Smith was given the job.

He said: "We can't deny the fact that Leon's relationship with our number one player is a positive element but that wasn't for me the factor that made the difference."

However, Murray's brother Jamie, who also worked with Smith as a junior, is not convinced.

He said on Twitter: "Do you honestly think this will make him play?! So transparent."

Smith, 34, has not played international tennis and began his coaching career at 18, working his way up to become the LTA's head of player development for men's tennis before Monday's promotion.

He was chosen for the Davis Cup captaincy ahead of, among others, former world number four Greg Rusedski, who Martens admitted had a lot of support from the players.

Rusedski has been coaching British number three James Ward, who made his Davis Cup debut against Lithuania, and also works with younger players as a talent and performance ambassador for the LTA.

The former US Open finalist was known to covet the role but Martens, who said Smith's greater coaching experience had given him the edge, insisted Rusedski still has a key role to play with the Davis Cup team.

"Greg's role is very important in men's tennis," added Martens. "As a player coming into coaching, he is someone who straightaway has made a remarkable impact with the way he works.

"For the moment the number of players he has been directly working with has not been very vast. That is one of the things we have been working on and Leon's role as leading men's tennis is making that happen.

"So Greg is a very important factor in supporting that and gradually growing his scope in men's tennis, because we've got somebody coming up from a very good playing career, so let's see that also in his coaching career.

"He can still take quite a lot of steps over the next few years. Of course Greg was very keen to get the job and that is something that is very positive."

Smith, meanwhile, insisted the door is still open for British number two Alex Bogdanovic, who was frozen out of the picture under Lloyd after seven consecutive singles defeats.

"Alex is still clearly the number two player in Britain," said Smith. "He made the semis in Belgrade fairly recently which shows his level is still fairly high. He's someone that will be considered for selection."

Obviously it's not important as I'm bloody awful at tennis and don't play for GB but could you really imagine having to listen to Greg Rusedski all day whilst training? It's bad enough just seeing him on tv!