At some stage over the next few days, Britain’s Davis Cup captain Leon Smith will share a phone call with Andy Murray, but unless the world No.1 has a change of heart, he will be absent from the team that plays Canada in the first round in Ottawa next weekend.
Murray arrived home yesterday, looking to enjoy some family time after the disappointment of his fourth-round defeat at the Australian Open, a loss to little-known German Mischa Zverev.
Smith named a team of Dan Evans, Kyle Edmund, Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot for the trip to Canada and he expects that to stay the same.
“I’m assuming he’s not going to play and quite honestly, I’m pretty open, I think he needs [rest],” Smith said yesterday.
“It’s quite an exceptional run he was on. It’s unbelievable how many matches he played in the second part of the year and then not much time to have a long pre-season, a long rest.”
“If Andy ends up playing then amazing and if he doesn’t then we’ve still got a shot of doing something over there.”
Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Tomas Berdych are also skipping their respective first-round ties and Smith said the format of the competition had to change to help top players turn out more often.
“I think it should be best of three sets [instead of best of five],” he said. “Actually it’s quite a daunting thought to go and play it again because it’s so brutal in its approach, with the best of five, the intensity of the crowd, there’s nothing like it.
“It’s emotionally draining for the players, in a great way, and the matches we had last year, they were amazing.
“But not all the top players are playing. It needs to be ranking points and best of three sets.”
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