With the Davis Cup final approaching quickly, the Great Britain Captain Leon Smith has a tough decision to make. The decision is of course who should be the second singles player for the final. The obvious choice of Aljaz Bedene, the British #2, is not eligible to play Davis Cup for Britain, due to a rule change by the ITF in January this year. Despite Bedene and the Lawn Tennis Association insisting that all the necessary paperwork had been submitted on time, the ITF have upheld their original ruling.
This means that Smith needs to go down the lower ranks of the Brits; he does have various players he can call on for duties. With the Belgian team selecting indoor clay for the final it appears the choice currently is between two players. Kyle Edmund ,the British #3 and 20 year old Davis Cup rookie and James Ward, the British #4. Since the US Open neither has had a good run, with Edmund losing in the first round of the last two Challenger events he played. Ward ended his long losing streak by winning the first round in Mons before going out in round two. However, he did progress further than most of the Belgian Davis Cup team in the same event! Smith was also present in Belgium for the Mons challenger; rumour had it that Smith was also going to scout out the venue chosen for the final.
After Belgium, Ward withdrew from the next Challenger he was due to play and news broke that his coach Darren Tandy was unwell. A statement from Tandy revealed that he was suffering from cancer and had been unwell since the US Open, which appeared to coincide with the drop in form of Ward. Unsurprisingly, when the news was revealed it appeared to impact again on the results of Ward, this time for the better. Ward went out to India and is playing the Bangalore Challenger. As the second seed he faced a Lucky Loser in the first round when his original opponent withdrew. This proved to be a great thing for Ward as he served up a double breadstick. In the next two rounds he won in straight sets and landed in the semifinal. The semifinal was the biggest test Ward had faced in this tournament, and it proved to be a battle as the Brit broke but was immediately broken back and then dropped the first set. This did not mean the end of the Brit though as he fought hard and leveled the match taking the second set. The final set saw Ward break, but get broken back again, then the Brit broke back again and would serve for the match. Taking the final game to land in his first final of 2015, Ward has made a statement of intent.
Edmund and Ward will both be playing clay Challengers in the weeks leading up to the final. With Edmund having recently fired his coach, Smith will accompany both Brits at the same events. The decision as to who plays the final is likely to be drawn from these last couple of weeks and how they perform at the clay Challengers.
Who will Smith select is going to be something he will need to ensure he gets right, as Britain aims to win the Davis Cup for the first time since Fred Perry and Co. The last time Britain was even in a final was 1978. Depending on results the player will either be a rookie making his first appearance, or an experienced Davis Cup player, who usually plays well above his ranking on these occasions (just ask Jim Courier!)
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