ANDY Murray yesterday confirmed his determination to continue bringing world class tennis to Scotland but admitted that Serbia's decision to play July's Davis Cup quarter final on clay could compromise his commitment to appear for Great Britain. The World No 2, who announced details of an exhibition event at the SSE Hydro in September which will see him take on Gael Monfils, won a perfect 11 rubbers as Britain won the title for the first time in 79 years last November but his involvement in their defence of the crown is complicated by his personal bid to win a second Olympic singles gold.
The Davis Cup quarter final tie falls in mid-July, immediately after the culmination of the grass court season at Wimbledon, and a time when the world's top players would rather be transitioning to hard courts ahead of the US swing and the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. While throwing a week of practice and play on clay into the mix would be difficult for both Murray and his potential opponent, Serbian World No 1 Novak Djokovic, the Scot, who has previously declared his intention to play 'if fit' in the match, expressed reservations yesterday.
"Potentially [it could change my commitment to play]," said Andy. "I need to see how my body is first. When I leave now to go away next week to Madrid it’s pretty much full-on through until the Olympics. There are a number of surface changes in a very short space of time so you never know how the body is going to react or how it’s going to pull up after those changes. Hopefully I’ll be fine, but it’s going to be a tough few months and I think all the players are aware of that right now. The more surface changes that are put in there makes it that bit more tricky.”
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