Dutch expecting Andy to play or ‘he is not ready’
DUTCH captain Paul Haarhuis has claimed Andy Murray will only be rested against them today if rival skipper Leon Smith thinks “he is not good enough.” The former world No1 hinted yesterday that he does not want to play five back-to-back singles matches in the new
Davis Cup format.
Dan Evans and
Kyle Edmund could be picked to play world
No163 Robin Haase and world No200 BoticVan de Zandschulp to give Murray and his new metal hip the day off.
But Haarhuis, above, bristled at the idea of Britain putting out a weaker team without Murray.
“If they rest him, they must be thinking he is not good enough,” said the former doubles world No1. “Why would you rest him? He is dying to play tennis.
“He didn’t play tennis for six, seven, eight, nine,
10 months or whatever. If they rest him, I don’t think he is ready. I think he is ready.
He wonAntwerp – anATP event.We will see who we play. It won’t change our approach.We are not going to say: ‘Oh, if Andy plays we are going to change it because we have some guy on the tour who owns Andy with a 10-0 record against him.’We’re not going to put him on the team so it doesn’t change anything.”
Murray piled on 10lbs during 12 days off after winning his first event since 2017. “Five matches in five days would be difficult for sure,” said the world No126 who will be No2 singles player. “I did it inAntwerp but it was tough.And I’ve also had a bit of a break as well. “I’ve lost a little bit of weight – not as much as I would like. But getting to practise here and hopefully getting to play a few matches can also help with the last couple of kilos.
“But one of the nice things about the team we have just now is that everybody is top quality and can play and step in.”