Murray out of Britain's Davis Cup tie

Mar 28, 2017 - 11:20 AM Great Britain's hopes of reaching the Davis Cup semi-finals suffered a major blow after Andy Murray was ruled out of next month's last-eight clash with France through injury.

The world number one withdrew from the Miami Open because of an elbow problem and it has now been confirmed he will not be part of Britain's team in Rouen.

Dan Evans, Kyle Edmund, Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot will take on the French on indoor clay at the Kindarena from April 7-9.

There has yet been no official update from the Murray camp on the nature of the Scot's injury but his brother Jamie revealed at the weekend that he had a "tear" in the joint.

Murray was also suffering from a virus prior to flying home to London last week and was told to rest by doctors.

British Davis Cup captain Leon Smith said: "This is a team with significant Davis Cup experience now and these guys have all stepped up and delivered performances at the very top of the competition.

"Not having Andy in the side is obviously a big loss to our team but most importantly we all wish him well for a speedy recovery back to full health and fitness. I know that he would really want to be here with the rest of the team.

"Facing France in a Davis Cup tie is a tough test for any group of players and this Rouen quarter-final will be no exception. They have the strongest depth of squad by far out of any nation in the competition."

Beating France, who boast five players ranked in the top 25 in singles as well as one of the world's leading doubles pairs, would have been a tough task even with Murray.

It is the same quartet that beat Canada in the first round in February, where all four played their part before the dramatic ending when Denis Shapovalov was defaulted for smashing a ball in anger into the eye of umpire Arnaud Gabas.

Britain last played France at the same stage two years ago, when Murray was the hero on grass at Queen's Club in arguably the key victory of their title run.

Source: AAP