Lloyd believes Liverpool will be a great venue for Tennis

Britain's Davis Cup captain John Lloyd hopes Liverpool can one day produce a Grand Slam winner.

Liverpool's Echo Arena hosts the Davis Cup tie with Poland in September and Lloyd hopes it will inspire youngsters.

Lloyd told BBC Radio Merseyside: "99.9% of the kids that come up want to be footballers and I understand that.

"But we want to be greedy and we want to steal some of those away to grow up and be tennis players. We certainly want them to come from Liverpool."

Lloyd added: "But I do believe when you've got someone who is world class and if Andy Murray goes on to win Grand Slams as I believe he will in singles, I think that is one of the biggest ways to get younger players out to play the sport.

We want the crowd to go absolutely bananas and that's what we need Britain's Davis Cup captain John Lloyd

"To have a hero, someone who has been number one and has won the big ones. If Andy keeps playing the way he's playing and he will be someone who will help that."

With such an event coming to Liverpool, the former Australian Open finalist says the crowd will be ready to give their full support to the team as they try to remain in the Euro/Africa Group.

He said: "I'm sure it's the first time there's been a Davis Cup match in Liverpool and we know what the sporting heritage is like in Liverpool. We expect it to be sold out - were talking about four to five thousand people.

"We want the crowd to absolutely bananas and that's what we need. Especially with our team, not counting Andy, is a little bit inexperienced in a lot of ways.

"In these type of matches that are 50-50 it can make a big difference when we get a passionate crowd behind us. I'm certainly expecting that."

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