No Murrays no problem for Smith

BRITAIN enter the fray of the davis Cup finals this morning without either of the Murray brothers for the first time in more than eight years. Yet captain leon Smith is confident the improvements in other players can make light of their absence, as GB tackle France and the Czech republic in this weekend’s group stages in Innsbruck. Smith can call on world no 12 Cam norrie and no 25 dan evans for the task, both of whom are ranked much higher than two-time wimbledon champion andy Murray. In doubles, he has two top-20 players in Joe Salisbury and neal Skupski. ‘andy and Jamie have been a mainstay in the team for a long time and played a big part,’ he said. ‘But what’s really pleasing is that the group of guys we’ve got here, they’re all at career-high rankings, all operating at a really high level. They deserve to be here.’ It is a sharp contrast to when he took over in 2010, when andy Murray not turning out meant the team was chronically weakened. ‘It was very different,’ said Smith. ‘If andy wasn’t playing, the rankings were not inside 100, maybe not even inside 200, of who else you’re picking. now you look at the players, it’s a privilege to be able to select this group.’ The team appeared in high spirits yesterday, even though the matches are being played behind closed doors due to the austrian lockdown. norrie and evans have had long seasons, but the training has been tailored with that in mind. ‘leon made it clear that it wouldn’t be a stressful lead-up, that we’d have fun and still be professional,’ said evans. ‘I feel fresh.’ GB open up against France today, facing veteran richard Gasquet and the improving arthur rinderknech. Given the opposition have an outstanding doubles team in nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, they should be a tougher test than the Czechs. Should Smith’s team go through, they could meet Serbia, including novak djokovic, in the quarter-finals.