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London. Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association is to hold an internal review after the team suffered fresh Davis Cup embarrassment by losing to Lithuania and risking relegation to the lowest tier of world tennis.

John Lloyd became the first Great Britain captain to oversee five straight defeats in the Davis Cup as the side slumped 3-2 away to Lithuania — a team with only three world ranked players, all teenagers — on Sunday.

The loss, which came as British star Andy Murray continued to opt out of the men’s team tournament, raised fresh questions about the way the LTA runs British tennis.

It received more than 29 million pounds ($44 million) last year in profits from Wimbledon alone, while Lithuania’s estimated annual tennis budget is just 90,000 pounds.

Under-pressure LTA chief executive Roger Draper said on Monday: “Five defeats in a row is unacceptable.

“So I have asked the LTA player director, Steven Martens, to review last week’s performance and result, and report back to me and the LTA main board as soon as possible.

“That review needs to be swift and decisive as it is clear some real improvements need to be made.”

Britain now faces a relegation playoff against Turkey in July to avoid dropping into Europe/Africa Zone Group III — the lowest tier of the competition — alongside the likes of Montenegro and San Marino.

Former Australian Open finalist Lloyd said after Sunday’s defeat in Vilnius he was considering his position, saying: “I’ll ask myself, ‘Did I screw up or could someone else do a better job?’ ”

A report in Monday’s edition of The Times said former British No. 1 Greg Rusedski had been approached to replace Lloyd, although whether a change of captain alone is enough to revive the team’s flagging fortunes is doubtful.

But Martens said no approach had yet been made to Canada-born Rusedski, who already works for the LTA’s talent identification team, about captaining the Davis Cup team.

“We have had no direct contact at all [with Rusedski],” Martens said. “Clearly we have to be swift and decisive. But it is very important that in the heat of the battle you don’t do anything emotional.”

Rusdedski, a former world No. 4 and US Open finalist, who won 30 out of 43 Davis Cup matches for his adopted country, wrote on social networking site Twitter: “Cannot believe we have lost to Lithuania in Davis Cup. Unbelievable.”

Great Britain last won the Davis Cup in 1936 — the same year Fred Perry became the last British male player to win a Grand Slam tournament.

  Tennis

Agence France-Presse