GB Davis Cup captain, Leon Smith, has made one of the biggest decisions of his captaincy by bringing in British number eight, Dan Evans, to play the second singles rubber against Australia at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena today.
World number three Andy Murray will spearhead the team as GB attempt to reach the Davis Cup final for the first time in 37 years and he will begin proceedings when he takes on Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first match on court at 1pm.
Murray is familiar with 19-year-old Kokkinakis despite never having played him on the tour; the pair are regular practice partners and also made a rare doubles appearance together in earlier in the year in Indian Wells.
Despite the Aussie sitting 69 places below Murray in the world rankings, the Scot knows that getting GB’s first point on the board will be hard.
“It’ll be a tough match,” he said. “I’ve practised with him and spent a lot of time watching him as well as speaking to him so, out of the younger guys, I know his game better than most.
“He’s quite an explosive player but at the same time it’s a tough match-up for him as well. The atmosphere is going to be challenging for them and that’s something they have to deal with. Hopefully it gives us a big boost.”
Glaswegian Smith has put his neck on the line by dropping his initial picks of James Ward and Kyle Edmund and drafting in Evans, who was ranked 763rd in the world following his failed attempt to qualify for Wimbledon this summer but a good run of form on the lower-tier Futures Tour has seen him improve to 300th position.
The Englishman, who will play 23rd-ranked Bernard Tomic today, has won 29 of his last 33 matches but has not played a top-100 player for 15 months.
“It wasn’t an easy decision (to drop Ward and Edmund) but Dan has played an awful lot of tennis this summer and won a lot of matches,” Smith said. “He comes in with a lot of confidence, he looks sharp and is very much match-fit. A lot of factors go in, and while it was a tough decision, I think it was the right decision.
“Dan has elements of his game that obviously can and did cause Tomic problems when they faced each other a couple of years ago,” he added, referring to Evans’ victory over Tomic at the 2013 US Open.
Meanwhile, the Australian team appeared relaxed with Kokkinakis, who will face Murray in the first match on court, relishing the opportunity to play the former Wimbledon champion.
“He’s a great player and to play him on home ground here in Glasgow will be a huge challenge,” he said. “For me, it’ s a huge honour. I will be ready. I guess I know what to expect from him but I’ll be out there playing my game and we’ll see how it goes.”
Australian captain, Wally Masur, admitted to being somewhat surprised at his opposite number’s decision to draft in Evans.
“I think it’s interesting,” he said. “As a captain, you make decisions based on what is right at the time but then you get judged in hindsight. So, if Leon gets it right, he’ll be a genius but if he doesn’t, there will be people ready to stick it to him.”
Smith also has decisions to make about tomorrow’s doubles partnership; he has nominated Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot but can change the pairing until one hour before the match starts.
Depending on how the matches pan out today, there is every possibility Andy will be brought in to play with his brother, just as happened in GB’s quarter-final victory over France.
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