When Leon Smith fielded his first Davis Cup team six years ago there were no Murray brothers to call upon and Great Britain’s fortunes in the competition were at their lowest ever ebb.
John Lloyd, a famous name in the sport, had captained the team to a humiliating defeat at the hands of Lithuania, resulting in his resignation after four years in the job.
With far less behind him in the way of playing pedigree, Smith’s name emerged at the top of the list of contenders to take over largely because he was known to have a very different relationship with Andy Murray whom he had coached as a youngster.
Read more: Argentina leave Andy Murray guessing over Day One Davis Cup opponent
However he could not call upon his fellow Scot at the outset and was forced to prove his inspirational qualities immediately and the win over Turkey that was required to avoid relegation from European Group II was duly achieved by an emphatic 5-0 margin with a team featuring Jamie Baker, James Ward, Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski.
Today the selection task confronting him is a very different one and it has changed considerably even in the past 18 months.
Read more: Murray brothers have no intention of letting double Davis Cup dream come to Messi end
In singles play the younger Murray has long since re-committed himself, performing heroics last year in winning all 11 matches he played out of a possible maximum 12.
Furthermore, whereas then world number 111 James Ward had to perform heroics against John Isner, ranked 89 places higher, to provide the third point in last year’s first round meeting with the USA after the only doubles match played without Andy Murray was lost, Smith now has very different options.
Kyle Edmund’s wins in both his singles ties in Serbia in the quarter-final Murray opted out of immediately after this year’s Wimbledon win would, previously, have made him an automatic choice, particularly after the 21-year-old followed up by reaching the fourth round at the US Open before losing to world number one Novak Djokovic.
Yet Edmund is now battling for a place with Dan Evans, ranked two places above him at 53 in the world and who also made significant progress at Flushing Meadow, earning a match point against Stan Wawrinka, who was to thrash Djokovic in the final.
Meanwhile Jamie Murray may have recently been deposed as the world’s number one doubles player, but arrives elevated in confidence following his second Grand Slam doubles win of the season with Bruno Soares and surely favourite to contribute a point alongside either his brother or, if Andy needs to be rested in order to be fresh for Sunday’s singles, Dom Inglot.
Naturally there is no doubt which challenge Smith prefers.
“We’ve been very fortunate in that the guys have stepped up and had some really, really good wins, great performances, but there’s no doubt it’s better to be in the situation now where we’ve got a strong team, everyone’s pushing for places, everyone’s playing well,” he said.
“What they’re doing on a week by week basis on the tour their ranking is still the priority, but obviously when it comes to Davis Cup it strengthens us considerably. There’s a lot of talk about it being a difficult decision on who to play, but the good thing is we’ve got a whole weekend, there’s different permutations, you’ve got change around in the team. That’s what the good teams have and that’s the situation we’re in now.”
Read more: Argentina leave Andy Murray guessing over Day One Davis Cup opponent
Unlike Daniel Orsanic, his Argentinian counterpart, who claimed to have decided upon his team yesterday, Smith’s claim, less than 24 hours before declarations need to be made officially, that he remained undecided was credible.
“There’s quite a few decisions,” he said.
“We’ve got five players who are all in conversations, so we have different permutations to look at. I’ll do what I usually do… we’ve had an open dialogue about it, everyone knows the situation that we weren’t going to make the final decision at the start of the week, we were going to go a few days in, have a little look at what’s going on as well in the practise courts.
“So nothing changes. I’ll have a chat with the guys later, the staff as well and make whatever decision we come to, but we’ve got a great team and at the end of the day it is a team event.”
That seems central to the Glaswegian’s approach. Whether dealing with the superstars of the modern game or up and coming talent, he seems to have the capacity to create an environment that helps all concerned to feel valued and therefore encourages them to produce their best efforts.
“We get on great, we respect each other a lot,” said Smith, noting that the bonds grow ever closer with each tie they play.
“It’s very healthy to have what we’ve got right now, it’s way, way better, so whoever goes out will get supported by whoever’s not playing on the bench and we fight to try to get through.”
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