LEON Smith is in the rare position these days of being a Scottish coach with a major world finals to prepare for. In seven days' time, the Glaswegian will lead a Great Britain team with an unmistakably Scottish flavour to the Flanders Expo Centre in Ghent, as Andy and Jamie Murray and co commence their efforts to capture the Davis Cup for the first time since 1936. Five years of his own painstaking work - taking this squad from the depths of Euro/Africa Zone II - as well as three quarters of a century of sporting history hang in the balance but outwardly at least Smith transmits calm as the countdown begins to the biggest week of his professional life. Internally, who knows?

The position of Davis Cup captain is often assumed to be a simple role - select Andy, and Jamie in the doubles, then let them go out there and do their thing - but in truth Smith has had a myriad of variables to contend with. First there was the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and their appeal for Aljaz Bedene, the Slovenian-born, World No 45, to be permitted to play in the tie. That was kicked into the long grass until March by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), rendering any time Smith had spent wondering and worrying about how his inclusion might have affected the team dynamic utterly irrelevant. "I think players would have been upset," he says, "and that would have been okay."

Even in Bedene's absence there remain weighty dilemmas to ponder. While he need only finalise his plans an hour before Thursday's draw, ostensibly Smith's choice for that troublesome second singles rubber now boils down to two options. Kyle Edmund, a 20-year-old Yorkshireman who played superbly to win a Challenger tour event in Buenos Aires last week but has never played a Davis Cup tie in his life. Or James Ward, the World No 155, who won on clay in Bangalore a month back but crashed out in the opening rounds in Argentina. As it happens, Edmund is now carrying on his Latin American adventure in Montevideo, in an attempt to secure qualification for January's Australian Open, and so may be a late arrival in Belgium.

Then there is the status of his star man Andy Murray, at a stage where every potential soft muscle pull or ankle turn could fatally compromise this supposedly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. No sooner had the World No 2 heroically emerged from the semi-final against Australia in Glasgow than he was voicing uncertainty as to whether playing the ATP World Tour finals on a hard court so close to the clay-court final was perfect preparation.

While those concerns have been parked somewhat after some late-season re-shuffling to his schedule, and some practice time on indoor clay at Queen's Club, it is little wonder Smith will breathe easily when the World No 2's o2 outing is over.

While the presence, for now at least, of doubles expert Dominic Inglot in the four-man list of official nominations means Andy may not have to play all three days, an injury to either singles player on the first day would require Jamie Murray or Inglot to play singles.

"I don't know what the Belgians are doing," said Smith. "But if you haven't played for three or four weeks, and you are just practising, nothing can replicate playing against very, very good players.

"You can play practice sets until you are blue in the face, it's not the same as having to make a decision that really counts at 4-4, 30-all second set, second serve," he added. "It [fatigue] will be a factor but I have seen Andy push through. You saw how tired he was in the last tie against Australia and against France. Against very good players, he finds a way. This means an awful lot to him. But clearly I would be happy if he isn't injured."

The meticulous Smith is closing in on his decision, but the first people to be notified will be the players themselves, one at a time. Whoever doesn't make the cut will be expected to hang around in case of unforeseen eventualities. Additional players who have played their part, such as Dan Evans and Scotland's Colin Fleming, will also be invited along.

"I haven't made a final call on it," said Smith. "But I had the advantage of being out in South America for a couple of weeks with the guys and like always there's a whole bunch of factors going into this. I'm close to knowing which direction I want to go with it, I just want to have a chat with one or two tried and tested confidants then I'll try and communicate with the players as quickly as possible because that's better all round.

"I think a lot about it," he added. "I have to. I draw up a list, whys and why nots on the different players, and try to figure out ... there's form, the surface, experience to some extent, match-ups, game styles to think about. All of those you have to try to encompass and then come to some sort of decision."

Having considered handing Bedene a debut, he has no problem envisaging one for Edmund. "The age thing for me, I don't mind that," said Smith. "In terms of being worried about somebody's experience, or nerves? I don't worry about that either. Everyone's going to be nervous. I don't think it's just going to be a young guy who comes in – if he does play – who will be affected."

As if Smith didn't have enough to think about, there are also the security implications, given strong Belgian links to the Paris terrorism attacks which killed 129 people. "We get daily updates, we are in constant communication and you have to put the trust in those authorities," said Smith. "We are taking advice from our own British government travel agencies but also the Belgian authorities and also the people in Ghent. They are running events they had planned like a cycling event and a trade fair so it would be a shame for many reasons not to go ahead with it. It is important to go in and get on with it and show we are stronger than that."