This brought about joyous but also sad scenes on Court One at Wimbledon as the win not only sealed a return to the World Group but also poignantly marked the end of Henman’s captivating career.
Although briefly taking time out to help extend his Grand Slam career, Henman was a critical member of the side, and his record of 40 wins in 54 ties helped Britain reach the heights of the World Group stages on five occasions.
Along with Greg Rusedski, who also reluctantly hung up his racket in the tie prior to Croatia, helped put the competition within the countries sporting radar. But now without them and a stubborn Andy Murray it would be surprising if even the seagulls would perch down and take notice on Friday.
The reason being is that what followed the unforgettable scenes at Wimbledon three years ago were five very forgettable matches to leave Britain now needing a victory at home to Turkey this weekend to survive plummeting into the lowest tier of the competition.
Not many can be blamed for the loss to a much stronger Argentina in Buenos Aries, especially with Murray pulling out through injury but losses against the likes of Austria, Ukraine, Poland and most recently Lithuania has left the team in an embarrassing situation.
The Davis Cup may no longer be the competition it once was but the sheer devastation of the position the GB team finds itself in at the moment and performances that have gone with it gives a true reflection of the state of the men’s game within Britain.
Throughout that period under Captain John Lloyd it has been totally dependent on the appearances of the world no.4 because without him Britain has only won three singles rubbers, through Chris Eaton, Jamie Baker and James Ward, two of which were dead rubbers.
Murray understands his responsibilities but for a potential Grand Slam champion to do it by himself is too much to ask and he has rightly taken leave from Davis Cup action to avoid unnecessary injury.
This then left poor Lloyd with not much to play with and even trialling players through a play-off system did not tell the former Davis Cup finalist a great deal about his players.
Record under John Lloyd
08/03/10 Lithuania 2-3 defeat
20/09/09 Poland 2-3 defeat
08/03/09 Ukraine 1-4 defeat
21/09/08 Austria 2-3 defeat
10/02/08 Argentina 1-4 defeat
23/09/07 Croatia 4-1 win
08/04/07 Netherlands 4-1 win
24/09/06 Ukraine 3-2 win
However whatever was around during the time Britain faced Lithuania it was expected that even a team of James Ward (world no.249), Dan Evans (world no.252) and a doubles pairing of Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski could defeat a team of teenagers.
How wrong we were. Although a gallant effort especially by Evans, who lost both of his rubber in five, the defeat to Lithuania was the final straw for the LTA, who pointed the blame at the captaincy of Lloyd rather than simply looking at their own misgivings.
Well four months on, we take on Turkey, with the same calibre of players but this time with the new captaincy of Leon Smith and that of course brings new optimism... doesn’t it?
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