The use of irony has never been a strong suit of British tennis but the announcer employed by the Lawn Tennis Association to send dismayed fans home from a depressing Davis Cup doubles defeat gave it a good go with “What an amazing day.” It was uttered as Jamie Murray and Ross Hutchins trudged disconsolately away and captain John Lloyd prepared to lay his head on the chopping block after his gamble horrendously backfired.

More fitting adjectives might have been mysterious or mortifying. Exactly why Andy Murray did not again grace the grass of Wimbledon’s No 1 court to partner either his brother or one of his best friends in a doubles encounter that is almost certain to be pivotal in Britain’s bid to maintain cherished elite World Group status against Austria is something to which only the US Open finalist and captain Lloyd are privy.

Certainly Murray wanted to play after making short work of his opening singles rubber on Friday and then declaring he would revel in any opportunity he could get to embarrass the leading Austrian Jurgen Melzer, who cast aspersions over the British No 1’s ability to handle the pressure of being the fourth-ranked player in the world. The fact Murray was hitting on an adjacent practice court at the very moment the problems began to start for Jamie and Hutchins against Melzer and Julian Knowle raised question marks over Lloyd’s claim that he was rested to avoid aggravating an abductor strain which left him only “80-85% fit”.

According to Lloyd the decision not to put his best player into the doubles was his and his alone. “Andy was up for it,” said the British captain. “If we lose this tie, I will take the heat for it. Andy was certainly able to play but he left it up to me. I talked to the medical guys and then came to my decision. I have to look at the big picture. We have to win three matches and I thought this was the way that offered us our best chance.”

What is now indisputable is that this morning Murray must first be sufficiently recuperated and mobile to again prevail over Melzer, against whom he diced with defeat at the recent US Open. Then Alex Bogdanovic, facing Alex Peya, must cast off the negativity born from seven straight first-round exits in Wimbledon Championships and a losing Davis Cup run that stretches through five live singles rubbers, the most recent being Friday’s disintegration against Melzer when he led by a set and had two break points to extend the lead.

Anything less than two victories will send Britain back to the ignominy of the Euro-African Zone Group One against the probable likes of Belgium, the Slovak Republic, Macedonia and Belarus. Whether Andy Murray will make himself available for such encounters, given the fact he opted to miss February's World Group opener in Argentina, is extremely dubious.

Britain have not won a World Group encounter since the autumn of 1986 but the mood in the camp had previously been bullish with Murray’s progression to his first Grand Slam final in New York, followed by the announcement of a £30m sponsorship deal with AEGON that made most of the world’s national tennis association’s envious of the LTA.

A loss of World Group status would only serve to underline the anomaly between achievement and wealth but LTA chief executive Roger Draper insisted: “It’s important for British tennis that we keep our place in the World Group but the deal with AEGON goes across the whole sport. There is nothing written in the contract saying we have to be in the World Group but obviously we want to make British tennis successful.

“If we did lose to Austria it would be a blip along the way but confidence is quite high. Winning and keeping our place would be fantastic but if we lost it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

“It would mean regrouping but there are so many good things going on across British tennis that one loss would not deflect us from the journey we are on.”

The expressions on the faces of a dispirited Jamie Murray and Hutchins contradicted such optimism after their emphatic 6-4 6-3 6-1 defeat. Knowle, the world’s 15th ranked doubles player and a former US Open champion whose father was born and raised in London, was clearly a performer of a far higher calibre and the fact his playing partnership with Melzer dates back nearly eight years was always apparent. As Knowle correctly maintained: “We were better at everything.”

Service breaks against the British pair proliferated, particularly at the first opportunity in all three sets, and their volleying ability left much to be desired. In fact such was their dismay with the performance that Murray considered personally apologising to the crowd who had each paid £17 for just 101 minutes of action. “I certainly did not play anywhere near my best level,” he said. “It did not feel good to be out there in front of 9,000 people and getting our butts felt for all the match.”

So now we await the re-emergence of Andy Murray and then another examination of Bogdanovic; a player about whom Lloyd remarked, when he was a BBC commentator for the unsuccessful tie against Israel on Eastbourne’s grass only two years and two months ago, that it would be a gamble to select him again.

Last night Lloyd was trying to stoke Bogdanovic’s brittle self-belief, telling him not to read the newspapers and reminding him that today’s opponent Peya went within a point of defeat against Richard Bloomfield (a player the British captain has never considered picking) in this summer’s Wimbledon qualifying competition. Hopefully, what would correctly be termed an amazing day is in store.

TODAY’S MATCHES

11am A Murray (GB) v J Melzer (Aut) Head-to-head Murray leads 2-0

Followed by A Bogdanovic (GB) v A Peya (Aut) Head-to-head Peya leads 2-0