MURRAY HINTS HE’LL MISS DAVIS CUP TIE
SERBIA’S desire to make Andy Murray think twice about playing twice in the Davis Cup quarter-final appears to have had the desired effect. The world No 2 admitted yesterday that staging the tie on clay in Belgrade immediately after Wimbledon had made his participation less likely — delivering a huge blow to hopes Great Britain might retain the title. Murray said he had expected the match to be played on a hard court, far more convenient for him and Novak Djokovic. But now, assuming the pair reach the latter stages of Wimbledon, they face a breakneck turnaround, going from grass to clay to hard courts ahead of the Olympics in early August. ‘I’ll have to see how the next few months go, but it means significant surface changes in a very short period, so it’s tricky,’ said Murray. ‘I need to see how my body is first. It’s pretty much full on until the Olympics. The reason for them picking clay is that the surface is the worst for us, while they’ve got a bunch of guys who play well on it.’ Djokovic has been guarded about his intentions for the quarter-final. It may be that he has already indicated privately that he intends to skip it, and Serbia have reacted accordingly.