Team GB delay travel to Belgium for Davis Cup final

Team GB’s showdown with Belgium is due to be held in Ghent, but there are fears that capital city Brussels could be under threat from a similar terrorist attack to the one witnessed in Paris last week. But with the Belgian government deciding later today whether to extend the state of emergency in Brussels, the British team is remaining in London to practice at Queen’s Club.

The November 27-29 final is to be staged at the 13,000-capacity Flanders Expo arena in Ghent.

A report in BBC said that the British team, comprising world number two Andy Murray, are not expected to travel until late Monday.

A statement read: “The LTA is in regular dialogue with the ITF on event security relating to the Davis Cup final”.

The raised terror threat in Belgium is of “great concern” to the worldwide Tennis Federation but preparations for the Davis Cup final are continuing.

Haggerty has said that the ITF has been in constant contact with the relevant authorities and that the security of the players, fans, media and working staff remains their highest priority.

Brussels was placed on the highest level of security alert on Saturday after the discovery of a cache of weapons in Molenbeek, the suburb where the jihadist attacks on Paris are believed to have been planned.

A few of the country’s sporting events, such as a football match between Lokeren and Anderlecht nearly 50 miles away from Brussels, were called off on Saturday because it was deemed high-risk.

Many supporters are also due to travel out to the match against Belgium, in which Leon Smith’s side are aiming to deliver Britain’s first Davis Cup title since 1936. This greatly concerns us but, at the present time, we are still continuing with preparations.