Andy Murray not afraid to play Davis Cup final in Belgium

Captain Leon Smith today named his Great Britain team to face Belgium in the Davis Cup Final next week without any mention of Aljaz Bedene.

His case will be heard at an worldwide Tennis Federation board meeting in Prague, and Smith is likely to delay naming his team for the clash with Belgium beginning a week on Friday until after the outcome is known.

After a week spent switching between practise on clay and hard courts as he tries to get ready for this event and the Davis Cup final, his preparations have not been ideal. “But this is a good situation to be in”, Murray said.

Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal began their ATP World Tour Finals campaign with convincing wins over David Ferrer and Stan Wawrinka in London on Monday. I think I played the way that I wanted to play.

“That isn’t his fault that it took quite a few time”.

Bookmakers Sky Bet make Edmund a hot favourite to play on day one of the tie at 1/6 with Ward 4/1.

Bedene had previously played three matches for his native Slovenia, all dead rubbers. That’s what he’s paid to do.

Smith certainly is not short of options.

Edmund is No99 in the world and is pushing for that second singles slot ahead of Ward, who is 155 in the rankings.

“Everything’s been good”, he said.

Security is sure to be tight in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, with Belgium now thought to have been at the centre of the plot.

“I think everybody right now is concerned about things”, said Murray, who beat David Ferrer 6-4, 6-4 in his opening match at the season-ending ATP finals. That’s all we can do. “So that’s what I’ll do”.

JAMIE Murray beat the crowds with an early morning Tube journey into the o2 arena yesterday then stole a march on his opposition at the ATP Tour finals.

A back problem caused him to pull out before the final in London a year ago and he was well beaten by Gael Monfils in his first singles match in the Davis Cup before recovering to win the doubles and the decisive singles.

Ferrer struck straight back at the start of the second set, a dip in form from Murray and aggressive play from the Spaniard rewarding him an immediate break of serve.

Murray had once again turned the match in his favour as he held and moved to within a game of the match as he was starting to boss the rallies and gave Ferrer no time to get any power on his groundstrokes.

“I served badly at the end of the first set and also in the second set”.

“Then I went to the States and had two first-round losses, which is something you don’t want to happen, and lost a little bit of momentum”.

The British champion secured a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ferrer in one and a half hour to register his first win in Ilie Nastase Group.