Tennis: Lloyd Hails 'fear Factor' of Henman's Davis Cup Return

Great Britain Davis Cup captain John Lloyd believes the return of Tim Henman to his squad has created a "fear factor" which can help sweep the nation back towards the all-important World Group.

Henman has ended a three-year Davis Cup retirement and been named in Lloyd's initial six-man squad for next month's Europe/Africa Zone Group One play-off against Holland in Birmingham. He has been joined in the squad by Andy Murray, Greg Rusedski, Jamie Baker, and two debutants in Richard Bloomfield and Murray's older brother Jamie, who has risen to 43 in the latest world doubles rankings. Lloyd's rich options represent a stunning change from recent years in which Great Britain were entirely reliant upon Henman and Rusedski - one of the main reasons Henman opted to withdraw from the competition.

"We have got a bit of a fear factor going on now with our squad and particularly if we get home matches, bring anybody on. If our team is fit and ready to play there are not many teams who would like to play us," he said. "When I took the job last year we had an exceptional singles player in Andy Murray who was rising fast, Greg Rusedski who had not won too many matches and had injury problems, and other players who were not quite ready. But things have turned round quickly. Andy has continued to play exceptionally and taken another step to being an established, world-class player, and we were very fortunate to get Tim back into the team."

The return of Henman, who last played against Austria in Portschach in 2004, represented a major coup for Lloyd, who is convinced his side can move on to claim a World Group play-off berth in September. Lloyd's cause is boosted enormously by the emergence of the elder Murray, who has beaten even the most optimistic of forecasts with his doubles performances, including back-to-back titles on the main ATP Tour circuit this year. "Jamie has taken the doubles by storm and he has come up faster than anybody anticipated," added Lloyd. "He has had an exceptional year and he has really gone on a streak with his American partner [Eric Butorac]."

Lloyd will be able to juggle his options right up until the eve of the competition on April 6. In the meantime tournament rules require him to name an official five-man team - although that can also be altered up to the week of the match. Lloyd and his coach Peter Lundgren have been scouting the prospective Dutch players, who are led by world number 139 Robin Haase followed by the more experienced Raemon Sluiter.

"I think the Dutch team is one in transition and we don't really know what team they will announce, but we have watched all their players so that we don't get any surprises," he said. "I never underestimate anybody in Davis Cup. It is a strange beast and it throws up interesting results where lower-ranked players turn into formidable opponents and other, well-ranked players don't perform. They will come here well prepared and we are going to have a tough match. But having said that I am always very confident, and I do think we are going to win this match."