The worst thing about Britain's defeat to Lithuania was not the defeat of Dan Evans to a man ranked 269 places below him.

It was not the helplessness of captain John Lloyd after becoming the first man to guide Britain to five consecutive defeats.

It was the indifference. The lack of national outrage.

Sure, there were a few headlines tucked away amid the weekend plethora of football and rugby. 'A Disgrace To Britain', that sort of thing.

But there was no passion. No sense that this was an extraordinary occurrence, the shame of which must never be allowed to happen again.

Imagine if this had been England football, having travelled to a footballing outpost such as Vilnius and been beaten 3-2 to exit a major championship.

The inquest would have lasted weeks. Chances are sackings would have been swift, criticism harsh, questions asked in the House of Commons and the national mood somewhere between spitting blood and sombre.

The apathy towards tennis is the real indictment of the Lawn Tennis Association. On their watch, over several decades, the sport has been chronically mismanaged. To a point where it no longer registers in the national sporting psyche bar for two weeks in summer when the Pimms brigade descend on SW19.

Or, of course, when Andy Murray threatens to disturb the dust on that old chestnut of a stat about bidding to become the first British man to win a grand slam title since Fred Perry back in 1936, which also happens to be the last time Britain got their hands on the Davis Cup.

Oh yes, where was Murray when Britain needed him in Vilnius? Better things to do. Pursuing his career. And can you really blame him? The demands of propping up British tennis single-handed are not conducive to winning the individual prizes that really matter.

Is there any hope of things getting better? Not really. Not when the 33,000 park tennis courts in the UK in 2005 are now down to around 10,000, mostly due to councils' quests for car park space.

Not when initiatives such as 'Tennis for Free' to attract more children into the sport come and go in a blur of candy-floss advertisement but no real substance.

Not when the LTA's idea of progress is to employ PR guru Max Clifford, as it did a couple of years ago, to raise the sport's image.

The LTA thinks nothing of spending £500,000 on its subsidised canteen at Roehampton's multi-million-pound National Tennis Centre.

Thinks nothing of hiring men's head coach Paul Annacone, the man who once guided Pete Sampras and Tim Henman, and effectively allowing him to spend half his time in the United States.

Put it this way. The LTA receive more than £25million from Wimbledon each year. The Lithuanian tennis budget is less than £100,000. You do not need to be a corporate accountant to know the maths and results just do not add up.

How is it that France and Spain can produce so many top tennis players?

Why is it that the world's top 100 is full of players from poorly-funded eastern Europe and other developing countries?

It has to be about hunger and desire. You can teach forehands and backhands but you cannot teach character. You either have it or, as with most British players, it seems, you don't.

It is not about elegance, style or even technical talent. It is about the identification and nurturing of players with the grit and mental toughness to play their best and make the right decisions under the most intense pressure.

"I'll ask myself if I screwed up, if anyone could do the job better," said Lloyd after the latest defeat.

The simple answer is the Wimbledon tea lady could have captained Britain to five successive defeats. But Britain's tennis demise is not down to Lloyd. His departure would change nothing.

Without Murray, perhaps even with him, there is a chance Britain could drop into Europe/Africa Zone Group III after they play Turkey in a relegation play-off in July.

That is the bottom tier of world tennis. Which somehow would be quite appropriate for the LTA. The Lowest Tennis Association.