Great Britain captain Leon Smith hoping for a Davis Cup wild card
"Clearly we'd be a strong candidate based on the last three or four years in the competition, and how we've hosted ties. It will be interesting"
Monday 17 September 2018 15:38, UK
Great Britain captain Leon Smith feels his side will be strong contenders for a wild card straight into November's Davis Cup finals next year.
Cameron Norrie ensured Great Britain could bid a fond farewell to the traditional Davis Cup format in Glasgow after completing a 3-1 victory over Uzbekistan.
The win guaranteed Britain will be seeded when the new-look competition gets under way next year.
The new World Cup-style tournament itself will be held at a neutral venue so only February's qualifiers will be home or away.
But Smith's team, Davis Cup winners in 2015, will be strong contenders for a wild card straight into November's finals.
"It feels like the wild cards are going to be a tricky one for them to decide to allocate before the qualifiers," said captain Smith.
"Clearly we'd be a strong candidate based on the last three or four years in the competition, and how we've hosted ties. It will be interesting."
The side did not disappoint and was achieved without Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund, British tennis' two poster boys who will hopefully be fit and back in contention next year.
"The important thing was to get a seeding to avoid the strongest nations, although I think it will be interesting to see how the draws pan out with some of the results," Smith said.
"Once we find out who we are playing in February, or if we get a wild card, then we will look forward to whatever the challenge is, whether it's February or into the finals we want to be there and see what it's like and be successful.
"We've got a really good team, and hopefully we can welcome back both Kyle and Andy next year.
"This so-called meaningless match just didn't feel like that at all. It was an amazing atmosphere - you saw on Friday how much it meant, there were tears for different reasons at the end of both matches.
"The players really cared, the fans did, the kids who turned out did, that's amazing, the atmosphere was brilliant."
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Tennis is back on Sky Sports screens with the Laver Cup in September while we will also have coverage of the ATP Finals in November with every match live on Sky Sports.
