Effort to be world No.1 has cost Murray this season, says Davis Cup captain

LEON SMITH believes Andy Murray could be paying the price for his efforts to get to world No.1.

The 29-year-old has been ruled out of Great Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final against France next weekend by the elbow injury that forced him to miss the Miami Open.

Team captain Smith has instead named Dan Evans, Kyle Edmund, Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot as the quartet who will travel to Rouen for the tie at the Kindarena from April 7-9.

Murray had hoped to pick up where he left off following a spectacular finish to last season, but 2017 so far has not gone to plan.

After a gruelling winter training camp, Murray appeared jaded at the Australian Open and his fourth-round loss was followed by a diagnosis of shingles. The Scot returned to action by winning a title in Dubai but then came the elbow injury, along with a virus, and his withdrawal from Miami.

Smith said: “Obviously he’s had a few things with shingles and now this. There’s no doubt he played unbelievably well last year, especially the second half of the year, with so much tennis that maybe the effects of that are taking place.

“But it’s bad luck as well. He’s in great shape. He’s a healthy guy, who looks after himself as well as anybody.”

There has as yet been no official update from the Murray camp on the nature of his injury or a timescale for recovery, but his brother Jamie revealed at the weekend that he had a “tear” in the joint.

Murray’s next tournament is scheduled to be the Monte-Carlo Masters, starting on April 16, or if that comes too soon then it is six weeks until the Madrid Open.