LEON Smith will ask Andy Murray to partner his brother Jamie in Saturday's potentially pivotal doubles rubber after the Davis Cup first round tie against Japan ended level at 1-1 after the first day's play - but is relaxed about the situation in the unlikely event the World No 2 turns him down.
While the younger Murray sibling showed little ill effects from his 33-day lay-off from competition as he racked up his first win since the birth of his daughter Sophia by a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 scoreline over Taro Daniel in just 90 minutes, World No 6 Kei Nishikori levelled matters on the scoreboard with a 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (3) win against plucky home favourite Dan Evans. Andy appeared uncertain last night whether it was more advantageous to risk his body by playing all three days or save his resources for Sunday's singles showdown with Nishikori - his first ever meeting with a top ten player in Davis Cup singles - but Smith is hopeful of having his strongest team available and that is undoubtedly the Murray brothers.
While Jamie Murray, the world doubles No 2, and Dom Inglot are the current British nominations, with Yasutaka Uchiyama and Yoshihito Nishioka selected for Japan, these can be altered up at any point until an hour before the day's play starts at 2pm and Andy's decision may be made easier by the fact Nishikori hinted strongly that he will play, most likely alongside Uchiyama in the doubles. Britain, of course, also feel they have an insurance policy in the fifth rubber, where the more-experienced Evans would fancy himself to take care of Daniel. Victory would see the holders advance to a quarter final tie against Serbia or Kazakhstan in June, while defeat would see them facing a relegation play-off in September to save their World Group status.
The Murray brothers have played just one doubles practice session together this week, with Inglot and Jamie playing the rest, but Smith said that was common practice. The Scottish siblings have played frequently as a pairing throughout the years and have an extra incentive to do so this season in Olympic year.
"It depends how he [Andy] feels when we get back," said Smith. "We will have a conversation about it and hopefully he feels good. The good thing is that, honestly, even if he does feel that he doesn't want to play, we have got a very good guy in Dom Inglot ready to go as well. So I am quite relaxed about it. But Andy and Jamie is our strongest team so it is great if they can play."
"I would like to play," said the World No 2, "but because the match on Sunday is going to be a very tough one, and I will definitely be playing in that one, physically I want to be ready for that match as well. It is a difficult one because I haven't played for such a long, long time. Maybe it wasn’t perfect [against Daniel] but it was good for a first match. It was fairly quick so I definitely will have saved up enough energy for the weekend. But I don’t know how I will feel on Sunday. I hope I will go out and play very well in that match because I will need to."
"I will discuss it tonight," said Nishikori. "But I know that even if Andy doesn't play they have a great doubles team. Either way it's going to be a tough doubles so I'll have to refocus and discuss it but if I have the chance I want to play."
While Evans fell short against Nishikori, the consensus is that the 25-year-old could yet save the day if required on Sunday. “I think Dan has a good chance to win that match," said Andy Murray. "He's got a very different game style – a game style that Daniel won't like."
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