Slovenian-born Aljaz Bedene hopes to be granted British citizenship this week
Tuesday 6 January 2015 17:23, UK
Slovenian-born Aljaz Bedene is hoping to be granted British citizenship this week - and already has his sights set on representing his adopted country in Davis Cup in March.
Bedene has lived in Britain since 2008, and news emerged last year that he was intending to switch nationalities.
His hopes of playing Davis Cup for Britain appeared to have been scuppered by a change in the rules to prevent players representing two different countries that came into force at the start of 2015.
Bedene, who is playing in the Chennai Open in India this week, had not expected to complete the citizenship process until next month but he rushed through it and sent off all his paperwork in time.
And providing the 25-year-old is successful in his application, he would be eligible for Britain's Davis Cup World Group first-round match against the United States in Glasgow in March.
Exciting
Bedene said: "I gave all the papers to the Home Office and I'm waiting for their response. It's quite an exciting period for me now.
"Although I'm at the tournament and I don't want to think too much about this, it would be really nice to get approval from the Home Office that I can be a citizen of the UK.
"My solicitor is taking care of it and it should be in the next couple of days I think.
"I had to rush with the life in the UK test and English exam because of the new ITF rules but I'm still positive, I think it will be all right."
Cup options
With a ranking of 156, Bedene would become the British number three behind Andy Murray and James Ward.
Bedene has been ranked as highly as 71 and his current standing is a reflection of 18 months of injury problems.
The option of selecting Bedene would be a welcome one for Davis Cup captain Leon Smith, who has long bemoaned the lack of strength in depth available to him.
Bedene - who played three matches for Slovenia between 2010 and 2012, all in dead rubbers - said: "I'm in contact with Leon and he's also excited to hear the news. We're all hoping it goes through."
