Kyle Edmund to miss Great Britain's Davis Cup openers in Spain
Thursday 1 February 2018 17:36, UK
Kyle Edmund has been ruled out of the opening day of Great Britain's Davis Cup first-round match in Spain.
The Australian Open semi-finalist had been hoping to feature, saying he was "doing his best" to recover from a hip problem he struggled with during his defeat by Marin Cilic in Melbourne.
GB captain Leon Smith instead opted to hand Davis Cup debuts to Liam Broady and Cameron Norrie, with world No 165 Broady taking on 21-ranked Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the opening rubber on Friday.
Norrie, ranked 114th, faces world No 23 Roberto Bautista Agut at Club de Tenis Puente Romano.
Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot will face Pablo Carreno Busta and Feliciano Lopez in Saturday's doubles.
The 23-year-old Edmund travelled to Marbella on Monday for the three-day match.
Ranked world No 26, Edmund said earlier in the week: "Since arriving in Marbella on Monday I have been doing my best to get match-ready for the tie.
"My intention is to play as I love Davis Cup and representing my country. My body has a few niggles and the transition from any surface to clay is not an easy one.
"Things are improving and I'm taking a day at a time at the moment. I wanted to keep you informed of the latest news and thanks to everyone for all the support."
Edmund was part of the GB team that won the Davis Cup title in 2015.
But without Edmund and the injured Andy Murray on the home side's favoured surface of clay, the 2015 champions face a massive task to reach the World Group quarter-finals and a clash with Australia or Germany.
