Lloyd confident Murray will play in cup

12 April 2012

Great Britain Davis Cup captain John Lloyd insists he is "100% certain" that Andy Murray will line up in September's World Group qualifier against Croatia provided he is free from injury.

Murray recently intimated he may have to consider his future in the competition if it continued to clash with his primary goal of continuing to establish himself in the world top 10.

Lloyd said: "I am 100% certain Andy will play Davis Cup again and the only thing to stop him would be injury. But I have no problem with Andy giving his opinions on the future and I fully understand his comments."

He added: "It is certainly not ideal in terms of scheduling. We have said for a long time the Davis Cup should change its format and unfortunately the people in charge of the competition just don't want to hear it."

The world's top two players, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, have both missed Davis Cup matches this year and Lloyd believes bigger names will continue to withdraw without a revamp.

Lloyd's suggestion revolves around a one-off, World Cup-style competition in which the top 16 qualified teams battle it out for the title at a single venue during a two-week gap in the re-arranged calendar.

Lloyd added: "My dream is that the Davis Cup should have a worldwide audience for its finals instead of the case at the moment where if you are not from either of the two countries in the final you don't watch it.

"It would take an incredible amount of changing the calendar but something has got to be done. If top nations continue to field weakened teams I am afraid the Davis Cup is going to lose its appeal."

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