ANDY MUST BE ‘SMART’ FOR NEXT DAVIS CUP

BRITISH captain Leon Smith is optimistic that Andy Murray will commit to play in the Davis Cup again next year, although he admits the world No 2 will have to be ‘smart with his schedule’. The Murray brothers have been enjoying a rare couple of days off in Scotland after Great Britain’s 3-2 semi-final defeat against Argentina on Sunday. They will play in a charity exhibition match at Glasgow’s Hydro Arena on Wednesday night before taking a break which, in Andy’s case, is clearly much needed. On Thursday, Great Britain will learn who they will meet in next year’s first round of the World Group, which in 2017 will take place in February immediately after the Australian Open. As demonstrated yet again, Murray is the key ingredient and Smith hopes there will be no change from his commitment of the past few years. ‘He put his body on the line here, put it ahead of his personal schedule,’ said Smith. ‘He’s a great Davis Cup player and absolutely loves it but he has to be smart with his schedule next year.’ For Murray — whose opponent in Glasgow will be Grigor Dimitrov — a possible factor in his 2017 planning could be whether he has any sniff of becoming world No 1 in the event of Novak Djokovic slipping back. The world No 2 is due to play events in Beijing, Shanghai and Vienna before rounding off his season at the Paris Masters and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at the 02 Arena. The World Tour Finals has a disproportionate amount of computer points attached to it, and would be among the places he could make some serious ground on Djokovic. Meanwhile, Gordon Reid has reached the No 1 spot in the wheelchair tennis singles rankings for the first time. The Sportsmail columnist won gold in singles and silver in doubles at the Paralympics in Rio to add to his two Wimbledon titles and Australian Open singles crown this year.