Judy Murray resigns as Great Britain Fed Cup captain

Judy Murray has resigned as captain of Great Britain's Fed Cup team, the Lawn Tennis Association has announced.

Murray was appointed to the role in 2011 but has been unable to guide Britain to promotion to the World Group.

Great Britain, 24th in the world rankings, have not contested a home tie in the Fed Cup, the women's equivalent of the Davis Cup, for 23 years.

The 56-year-old guided her team to the World Group II play-offs in her first two years in charge but Britain were beaten first by Sweden and then Argentina.

But for the last three years, their campaign has begun and ended with the round-robin zonal competition in February.

Withdrawals of top players have proven to be a problem, with illness and injury restricting the involvement of Heather Watson and Laura Robson over the last three seasons.

More recently, Johanna Konta withdrew from last month's tie against Belgium through illness after reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

Britain defeated South Africa and Georgia at the event held in Israel but lost to Belgium with a place in the World Group II play-offs at stake.

Murray had hoped to earn Britain a home tie to give her players a taste of the excitement that carried the Davis Cup team to victory in their competition last year.

But after losing to Belgium, she did not hide her frustration, saying: "I'm fed up with it. Everybody wants to get out of this zone.

"The format doesn't really lend itself to building any momentum for women's team tennis if you play four days in February and then you don't play again until the following February."

On Tuesday she added: "It's a big regret for me that we didn't make it to the World Group, but what we have now is a pool of players capable of competing at that level. We just need them all to be available and fit to play at the same time."

The LTA's Chief Executive Michael Downey said: "British Tennis and our players have been fortunate in having a captain possessing Judy's unique tennis knowledge, passion for the game, and sense of fun steering our Fed Cup campaign for the last five years. 

"No doubt she has left an indelible mark on all the players she has worked with on the team, the support staff and inspiring other GB female coaches along that journey. On behalf of British Tennis, I would also like to personally thank Judy for her commitment.

"In terms of next steps, we will begin an open recruitment process shortly and aim to announce a successor well before the end of the year and 2017's February Fed Cup tie."