SMITH PUTS HIS FAITH IN ANDY AGAIN
Skipper keen to bring back GB’s star man despite Scot not being 100 per cent fit
LEON SMITH is set to recall Andy Murray for tonight’s Davis Cup quarter-final with Germany despite admitting his star player is still not fit.
The Scot was benched for the first time since 2006 for yesterday’s must-win match against Kazakhstan. And for the second day here in Madrid, his brother Jamie and Neal Skupski nervelessly claimed the decisive doubles to avoid a shock defeat and reach the knockout stages.
Recalled Kyle Edmund played superbly to beat Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3 6-3. But British No.1 Dan Evans went down 5-7 6-4 6-1 to Alexander Bublik.
It left Britain’s doubles stars to secure a bonus of £774,699 for winning Group E. GB captain Smith said: “It has been two tough days but amazing days.”
Leaving the double Olympic champ out against the efficient Germans would be a huge call tonight, especially with Evans struggling on the super-quick indoor courts. Smith will name his strongest team with Murray and Edmund playing the singles unless the former world No.1 fails a late fitness test.
Smith added: “It was obvious that Andy wasn’t at his best on the court and it’s tough to recover from that as well.
“Andy’s condition is not going to change huge amounts. But it’s important after five weeks of not playing any competitive tennis that you play a match.
“It wasn’t his ideal match at all but it gets you going again. We can talk about it tomorrow, see how things are going and then we can make a decision.”
The Germans are expecting the double Olympic champion to return to the British ranks.
World No.35 Jan-Lennard Struff said: “I know Andy Murray – I think he will play.”
Philipp Kohlschreiber, the world No.79 who has lost his last five matches against Murray, said: “Andy is a god of defence. We all know maybe he’s not there what he was before but the fighting spirit is still Andy Murray.”
If the match goes to a suddendeath shootout in the doubles, the Germans will field the French Open champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies. Jamie Murray has called for a second venue at the Davis Cup finals after the ItalyUSA match finished at 4.04am – when both teams were already out. Tournament organisers have brought forward the starting times by half an hour from today after the late-night finishes.
But the packed schedule has morning and evening starts to shoehorn in 25 matches in seven days on three courts.
The early match between Argentina and Germany ran late on Wednesday– and the knockon effect saw the doubles match between Sam Querrey and Jack Sock and Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini not start till 2am then run to three sets.
Novak Djokovic has called for an eight-team tournament with fewer matches by merging the Davis Cup and ATP Cup to ease the fixture chaos.
But Jamie Murray said: “If they have a second venue in Madrid somewhere that will solve a lot of problems.
“And they’ve obviously got the finances to do that. They can’t add days to the event, I don’t think.
“It doesn’t matter to the fans because they’re turning up to watch one team anyway.
“So for me, that’s something they should look at.”
The latest tennis match in history was between Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis and it finished at 4.33am at the 2008 Australian Open.
It’s obvious Andy wasn’t at his best and it’s tough to recover from that
LEON SMITH KNOWS THERE IS AN ISSUE WITH MURRAY