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Murray: If I_Ñém fit and healthy, I_Ñéll play


 

Originally published on: 16/09/13 00:00

The Wimbledon champion sealed the tie for his country with a 6-4 6-2 6-4 victory over Ivan Dodig in the fourth rubber on Sunday. The win means Great Britain will return to the World Group in 2014 after a six-year absence. 

"If I'm fit and healthy, I will be there to play," Murray said of next year's competition when speaking with BBC Sport after the win. "A couple of years ago that wasn't the case when I sat down with Leon Smith. I wanted the younger guys to step up and experience it. There was no use us being in the World Group because we weren't ready for it.

"But now I think we are ready to do well. We have a top doubles team. Dan (Evans) and James (Ward) will continue to improve and we've got the makings of a very solid team."

Murray had cruised to victory in the tie’s opening rubber when he defeated 16-year-old Borna Coric, who was making his Davis Cup debut. But after Dan Evans failed to reproduce the form that saw him reach the third round at the US Open, falling to Dodig in straight sets, Murray was drafted in to play the crucial doubles rubber alongside Colin Fleming.

The pair had teamed up to reach the final in Montreal a month previously and they worked in tandem once more on the clay of Umag, dispatching of Dodig and Mate Pavic in four sets to set the stage for Murray to seal the tie in the first of the reverse singles.

Great Britain will now take their place in Wednesday’s 2014 Davis Cup World Group draw alongside 15 other nations.

"I would just like a home tie, in a big arena, against one of the top teams,” said Murray. “It is an incredibly difficult competition to win because some of the teams have so much depth. It depends on the ties and whether you are at home.

"We could easily draw Spain away in the first round and that would be an ugly match-up for us – very difficult to win. But it's possible to go deep into the competition. Let's enjoy this just now and wait and see the draw on Wednesday."

Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic's Serbia and Tomas Berdych's Czech Republic booked their spots in November's final with victories over Canada and Argentina respectively.

Rafael Nadal recovered from his US Open heroics in time to help Spain to a 5-0 win over Ukraine, securing their place in the World Group for an 18th year in succession.

Stanislas Wawrinka won his opening singles rubber before teaming up with Michael Lammer to give Switzerland an unassailable 3-0 lead against Ecuador while Go Soeda clinched victory for Japan over Colombia in the decisive fifth rubber after Kei Nishikori won both his singles matches.

In Warsaw, Bernard Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt inspired Australia to a 4-1 win over Poland, who lost their No.1 player Jerzy Janowicz to injury on the eve of the tie; Belgium overcame a 2-1 deficit to defeat Israel 3-2; Germany comfortably saw off Brazil 4-1 at home; and the Netherlands routed a depleted Austrian team 5-0.

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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.