Poorly Murray returns to practice

Andy Murray practiced on Thursday
4 April 2014

Fears over Andy Murray's health were partially allayed as he took to the practice court on the eve of Great Britain's Davis Cup quarter-final against Italy in Naples.

The British number one was laid low by a virus on Wednesday evening and was unable to attend the draw ceremony on Thursday.

Captain Leon Smith remained hopeful his star player would be able to play in the first day of the tie on Friday and Murray did make it to Tennis Club Napoli late in the afternoon.

The draw gave the Scot a bit of extra time to recover, with Murray scheduled to play the second singles match against Andreas Seppi.

And a poor weather forecast for the first two days of the tie could yet mean Murray does not have to take to the clay court until Saturday.

James Ward will play the first singles rubber against Italian number one Fabio Fognini after being given the nod over the higher-ranked Dan Evans.

The Londoner's selection was not a surprise given his stunning win over the USA's Sam Querrey in February, which helped Britain to a first World Group victory in 28 years.

Evans dropped out of the four-man team altogether and was replaced with Ross Hutchins, leaving Smith's options open for what could be a crucial doubles rubber on Saturday.

Plan A would have been for Murray to team up with fellow Scot Colin Fleming, but if it is felt that is too much for the Wimbledon champion, Hutchins will make his first Davis Cup appearance since his fight against cancer.

Italy went into the tie as favourites even before news about Murray's illness emerged.

Britain upset the US on clay but, in the absence of the injured John Isner, the surface ended up hampering the home side more than Smith's team.

The Italian team, on the other hand, is very much at home on clay and in world number 13 Fognini they have one of the season's strongest performers.

The talented but unpredictable 26-year-old already has an ATP Tour title and another final appearance on the surface in 2014 but is still affected by a thigh problem he suffered in his defeat by Rafael Nadal in Miami last week.

Seppi, ranked 34th, is a very different character, solid and reliable from the back of the court, and it is a big ask for Ward to upset either player.

Smith, Murray's junior coach, has won eight of his nine ties since taking over as captain in 2010 and enhanced his reputation with each one.

He said at a press conference: "As usual there's been very good team spirit. We've got a really good bunch of guys, we get on great and we've had a good time.

"But it's also been very business-like. We're here to do a job. We believe we can win, which is important. We really feel that we've earned the right to be here.

"There's a few challenges: they've got a very strong team, obviously we're away from home again and I think the crowd will play a part, and the surface.

"But I think we're strong enough mentally and we've got enough quality to put up a really good fight."

Murray has struggled to rediscover top form this season after back surgery but one of his best weeks came in San Diego and the 26-year-old appears highly motivated to do well in Davis Cup.

There were promising signs in Miami last week but his quarter-final loss to Novak Djokovic saw him drop to eighth in the rankings, his lowest spot since 2008.

Beating Fognini would represent one of his best wins ever on clay.

The venue, meanwhile, does not hold happy memories for Murray, who recalled losing in qualifying at a lower-tier event when he was a teenager.

He said: "I didn't remember I'd been here and then when I actually turned up to the club, I was like, 'I'm sure I played on that court'. I was probably 16 or 17."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in