Leon Smith rejects calls for Davis Cup revamp

GREAT Britain captain Leon Smith is a fan of the Davis Cup format despite the hectic ATP World Tour schedule robbing him of his best player for a second successive tie.

Smith’s side will go into this weekend’s Europe/Africa Zone Group I clash with Belgium without Andy Murray after the world No 4 decided he could not afford to miss a week of training on clay to play on an indoor hard court in Glasgow.

Murray has stayed in Miami with coach Ivan Lendl, and a back injury to No 2 player James Ward means Josh Goodall, ranked 253rd, heads the British challenge at Braehead Arena against a team boasting two players in the top 100.

Murray is not the only absentee from this weekend’s ties. Neither Spain’s Rafael Nadal nor Novak Djokovic of Serbia are playing in their respective quarter-finals, and many players feel the format of the competition needs to be changed. There have been calls for it to be made biennial or condensed into a two-week period rather than ties being played throughout the year on a home-and-away basis, but Smith would be loath to lose the special atmosphere the competition can generate.

He said: “If you can get the best players playing all of the time, of course it’s going to help.

“But it’s a unique competition having the home and away element. The players love and thrive on it, because they don’t get that anywhere else.

“The competition has a lot of great benefits, but whatever happens in future to try to help get the best players playing is going to be good for the competition.”

Goodall will open proceedings this afternoon against world No 68 Steve Darcis before Dan Evans, the hero of February’s victory over Slovakia, takes on Belgian No 1 Olivier Rochus.

Goodall has only played in one tie before – against Ukraine at the same venue three years ago, when he failed to win a set – but Smith is confident the fast court will suit him.

And the captain must hope Evans finds the same form he showed against Slovakia, when he beat two players ranked significantly higher than him, including winning a five-set thriller in the deciding rubber against Martin Klizan.

Smith said: “Winning always helps and the manner it was done, with so much drama, excitement and euphoria at the end, I think that’s carried on. It’s going to take a lot of hard work to get the same result this weekend, but we showed last time anything’s possible. Speaking to the players, they’re really confident they can do something.” The one rubber Britain will be favourites to win comes tomorrow, when doubles pair Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins take on Ruben Bemelmans and David Goffin, with the reverse singles taking place on Sunday.