Norrie eases GB into new Davis Cup era
BOOS rang out around the Emirates Arena before the start of this last day of Davis Cup play as we have come to know it. It was the stadium announcer mentioning the changes to the historic competition’s structure that sparked the displeasure. This was not to be the only note of discord, as Great Britain finished off Uzbekistan in slightly anti-climactic fashion to close a long chapter in the event’s 118-year history. Cameron Norrie put behind him his torrid experience of Friday night — when he lost to second string Jurabek Karimov — by making short work of another little-known opponent, Sanjar Fayziev, 6-2, 6-2, 6-0. It put the home side an impregnable 3-1 up and caused the abandonment of the dead rubber that was due to feature Dan Evans. Some of the crowd were not happy with that, after only one hour and 53 minutes of competitive tennis. Norrie’s path had been smoothed by the late withdrawal of Uzbekistan’s one truly high-class player, world No 60, Denis Istomin, due to an ankle injury. The old Davis Cup went out very much with a whimper rather than a bang. Now it is on to the brave new world for the competition fashioned by the International Tennis Federation in partnership with the Kosmos marketing group, headed by Barcelona’s Gerard Pique. The victory means that Great Britain will get seeded for the new play-off round next February, whose winners will go on to play in an 18-nation event held over a week. It could help, but not necessarily. It is conceivable that Leon Smith’s team could get one of the two wildcards into the finals week that bypass the qualifying round, although these might go to Serbia and Switzerland, teams of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Their allocation is a vexing question. As Smith pointed out: ‘It’s difficult to have objective criteria. I’m really interested to see how they do it, and their justification for who they give the wild cards to. ‘Clearly we’d be a strong candidate based on the last three or four years in the competition, and how we’ve hosted ties.’ Of the changes he said: ‘What’s happened has happened, the vote has gone through. We will embrace this next challenge because we definitely want to be part of it.’ If GB are drawn at home, Manchester or Brighton are potential hosts for the match. The February round will be played over two days featuring five best-of-three-set rubbers on a Friday and a Saturday, with the doubles point expected to be the first contested on the second day. Many aspects remain unclear. Madrid is the favourite to be announced as host city for the finals week. The date is still not known as Pique and his backers face a battle to carve out the September slot they desire.