Murray picked to represent GB in Davis Cup finals

LONDON—Andy Murray has been chosen to play for Britain in the Davis Cup finals, organizers said Monday.

The three-time Grand Slam champion, who won a title on Sunday for the first time since hip surgery in January, has not played in the team tournament since 2016. Britain will play the Netherlands and Kazakhstan in the group stage of the revamped tournament next month in Madrid.

Also, Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev could meet in a repeat of the US Open final after being chosen to represent Spain and Russia, respectively. The 2018 champion Croatia is also in that group.

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic has been named to Serbia’s team, which faces France and Japan.

Kei Nishikori is missing from Japan’s team. An arm injury has prevented the eighth-ranked Nishikori from playing since his US Open third-round loss to Alex de Minaur in August.

“So sad to miss this,” Nishikori wrote on Twitter.

Germany’s team is led by 41stranked Jan-Lennard Struff in the absence of sixth-ranked Alexander Zverev, who has instead chosen to play a series of exhibition matches against Roger Federer in Mexico and South America.

The 31st-ranked Taylor Fritz is the highest-ranked player on the US team alongside Reilly Opelka, Sam Querrey, Francis Tiafoe and Jack Sock.

The US Tennis Association said the team would be its youngest in the Davis Cup for a decade, with an average age of 25. The US plays Canada and Italy in the group stage.

The new-look Davis Cup format sees 18 nations compete from November 18 through 24. The tournament starts with round-robin matches in six three-team groups with the top 8 teams qualifying for quarterfinals.

PLAYING in his 1,500th tour-level match, Roger Federer needed just 53 minutes to cruise past German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk 6-2, 6-1 Monday at his hometown Swiss Indoors event in Basel.

The nine-time Basel champion hit 12 aces in the first-round match to extend his winning streak at Saint Jakobshalle to 21 straight matches, and improve his Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) career record to 1,232 wins and 268 losses.

The 38-year-old Swiss is topseeded this week as he looks to add to his 102 career tour titles.

Federer won the last four times he played the Swiss Indoors—missing the 2016 edition through injury— since a 2013 final loss against Juan Martin del Potro.

He next plays 33rd-ranked Dusan Lajovic or 49th-ranked Radu Albot.