Becker tells Fleming it’s time to produce

Mar 3 2011 West Lothian Courier

COLIN Fleming has a Commonwealth gold medal on his sideboard at home in Linlithgow but six-time Grand Slam singles champion Boris Becker insist it is now time for him to really produce the goods.

Fleming is set to star in Great Britain’s Davis Cup Europe/Africa Group 2 relegation play-off against Tunisia in Bolton this weekend.

Becker, the youngest-ever winner at Wimbledon when he landed the title aged 17 in 1985, has been critical of the performances of Britain’s best on the Davis Cup stage in recent seasons in the obvious absence of Andy Murray.

Britain now possesses just two players inside the world’s top 300, Murray and James Ward, with Britain’s Davis Cup skipper Leon Smith so short of quality reinforcements he has been forced to call up Alex Bogdanovic for Bolton – a man who has dropped 200 places to 378 in the world and has lost all six rubbers he has ever played for his country.

The victors of the tie in Bolton will face the winner of Ireland v Luxembourg on 8-10 July in the second round and Becker says Fleming must play a leading role against Tunisia.

“The upcoming Davis Cup event for Britain is really important as it is time to get an overdue win,” said Becker, who is a Barclays Ball Kid ambassador, working with 2,500 youngsters in 2011 ahead of the Barclays ATP World Tour finals later this year.

“It hasn’t been the best of times recently in Davis Cup tennis for the team but it is time for Colin (Fleming) to put that behind him and just concentrate on getting back up the ladder.

“Obviously the ultimate goal will be to get back into the World Group but that is still a couple of years away right now so it is all about taking small steps and improving on the court first.

“The players in the team and I include Colin in that, are all good players and on paper are stronger than the Tunisian team so will head into it as favourites and it will be interesting to see how they deal with that.

“These players seem to play well in the regular tournaments but when it comes to representing your country in the Davis Cup they don’t seem to be able to do the same thing.

“It is all about dealing with that pressure and just concentrating on your own game and if they do that then I am sure more positive results will arrive.”

Fleming, 26, tasted Commonwealth Games gold in October as he teamed up with British rookie Jocelyn Rae to land mixed-doubles gold.

And Becker, who landed 15-career doubles titles and reached a world high of six, is convinced the Linlithgow-ace should use his podium-topping experience as a catalyst to kick-on in 2011.

“Success at any level is the key to future success and to have that come in the Commonwealth Games is a real positive,” added Becker.

“It is now time for these guys to build on this and take it into the Grand Slams and hopefully they can do that.

“They have just started on their journey and this is a great start – but now they must keep it going and build on it.

“It is just about carrying this success on into every tournament and being consistently good in the Grand Slams now to really show what they can do.”

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The Scottish regional trial takes place in Edinburgh at David Lloyd, New Haven Harbour on Saturday, March 5.