Andy Murray gets Davis Cup nod as Leon Smith confirms ‘great team’ for Manchester matches

Tennis365 14 Aug 2023 1:53 PM

Andy Murray has been restored to Great Britain’s Davis Cup team as they take on Australia, France and Switzerland in Manchester next month.

Murray, who was integral to Britain ending a 79-year wait for glory in the team competition as they triumphed in 2015, was left out of the squad for the rubber against Colombia in February, but the team still managed to grab a 3-1 qualifying win in South America.

British captain Leon Murray suggested the surface was not conducive for Murray, who had at the time played just three matches on clay since 2017, and the former world No 1 has returned to the fray.

He takes his place alongside Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans and Neal Skupski for the Finals Group Stage at Manchester’s AO Arena from September 12-17 as they attempt to qualify for November’s knockout stage.

Only two of the four nations will advance from Group B for the quarter-finals in Malaga.

“We can’t wait to play Davis Cup in Manchester in front of a huge home crowd,” Smith said.

“It’s been a long time since we played in the North West and I’m sure we are going to feel and hear a lot of energy from the fans.

“We have a great team with a lot of Davis Cup experience who will be ready to give it everything in a tough group with Australia, Switzerland and France.”

Your Lexus GB Davis Cup Team is

Captain @LeonSmith's picks for the @DavisCup Group Stage at the @AOArena in Manchester:

✅ @cam_norrie
✅ Dan Evans
✅ @andy_murray
✅ @nealskupski pic.twitter.com/glhxUuf74Z

— LTA (@the_LTA) August 14, 2023

At his last appearance at the 2022 Davis Cup Finals in Glasgow, Murray played one singles match and two doubles rubbers. He defeated Kazakhstan’s Dmitry Popko in the singles and teamed up with Joe Salisbury in the doubles, but they lost their two encounters against the United States and the Netherlands.

Murray’s overall Davis Cup record is 41–10 while it is 32–3 in singles with Stan Wawrinka (2005), Fabio Fognini (2014) and Juan Martin del Potro (2016) the only players to beat him in singles.

As for Great Britain’s recent Davis Cup record, last year they failed to reach the quarter-finals as they didn’t get out of the group stage while in 2021 they lost in the last eight, going down 2-1 against Germany.

They reached the semi-final in 2019, but went down 2-1 against a Rafael Nadal-inspired Spain at the Caja Magica in Madrid.