Davis Cup: GB vs Australia player profiles and statistics
Friday 18 September 2015 07:49, UK
Sky Sports profiles the players and looks at the relevant statistics ahead of this week's Great Britain v Australia Davis Cup semi-final.
The tie
Venue: Emirates Arena, Glasgow
Staged Great Britain's first-round tie against the USA in March. Prior to that, the venue, which sits opposite Celtic Park football ground in the East End of the city, was best known for playing host to the badminton competition at last year's Commonwealth Games. Will have a capacity of 8,200 this week, a few hundred more than watched the USA clash.
Surface: Indoor hardcourt (GreenSet Top)
Ball: Slazenger Wimbledon Ultra Vis Hydroguard
Head-to-head: Australia lead 8-4
Australia may lead the historical series between the two nations, including the first meeting in 1907 which saw the men from down under win the final at the old Wimbledon venue at Worple Road, but this will be the first time they have met on a hardcourt. The Aussies have also won the last three times they have met, the most recent being in 2003 on clay in Sydney when neither Tim Henman nor Greg Rusedski was available. The stand-ins had little chance against Lleyton Hewitt - back in Australia's team this week - and Mark Philippoussis.
Schedule: Friday - singles (2); Saturday - doubles (1); Sunday - reverse singles (2). Play starts on each day at 1300 BST.
GREAT BRITAIN
Andy Murray
World ranking: 3
Age: 28
Davis Cup record: Singles 23-2 (9-0 hard); Doubles 5-5 (2-1 hard); Overall: 28-7 (11-1 hard)
The former Wimbledon champion lost his very first Davis Cup singles rubber back in 2005 but has lost just once since - to Italy's Fabio Fognini, on clay, last year. Admittedly many of those wins came against lowly opponents and it may well have been his 6-0 6-0 6-0 victory over Luxembourg's Laurent Bram in 2011 which helped him decide to take a break from the competition. At the time he said it was time for other British players to step up to the plate. They responded well to the challenge and after a two-year absence, Murray returned at the end of 2013 to help GB earn promotion to the World Group. Last year he was part of the team which won its first World Group tie for 28 years and this season he's taken them a step further after winning three rubbers in as many days against France in July. A repeat may be needed this weekend if GB are to reach their first Davis Cup final since 1978. The omens are good though - Murray is 13-0 in his career against Australians.
Record v Tomic: 2-0 (2-0 hard) - last meeting, Miami 2013, 6-3 6-1
Record v Kokkinakis: 0-0
Record v Hewitt: 1-0 (1-0 hard) - last meeting, San Jose 2006, 2-6 6-1 7-6
Record v Groth: 0-0
Season so far: A big improvement on 2014. The Australian Open final was reached in January before the first claycourt titles of Murray's career arrived, followed by a semi-final run at Roland Garros, a feat repeated at Wimbledon. More recently he won the Masters 1000 title in Montreal only to suffer a shock defeat to Kevin Anderson in the fourth round of the US Open - his earliest Grand Slam defeat for five years. It did, at least, give him extra time to prepare for this tie.
Dan Evans
World ranking: 300
Age: 25
Davis Cup record: Singles 4-8 (3-7 hard); Doubles 0-0; Overall: 4-8 (3-7 hard) (1-1 clay)
Evans, ranked 300th in the world, was a surprise call-up to Leon Smith's side. He had been due to play a challenger event in Istanbul this week, The Birmingham-born player was preferred over far higher-ranked Kyle Edmund and James Ward for the second singles slot. Edmund is ranked 100th in the world but had never played a Davis Cup tie and fell heavily in practice this week while Ward had lost his last 10 matches.
Record v Tomic: 1-0 (1-0 hard) - last meeting, US Open 2013, 1-6 6-3 7-6 6-3
Record v Kokkinakis: 0-0
Record v Hewitt: 0-0
Record v Groth: 0-0
Season so far: The so-called bad boy of British tennis has played on the lower-level Futures circuit this year, which has proved productive in his attempt to climb the rankings. He won in Sharm El Sheikh in May and then won 29 matches since losing in the third qualifying round at Wimbledon. He landed two titles and came through qualifying to reach the semi-final in Vancouver. The 25-year-old from Birmingham has a talent that has long belied his world ranking, which currently stands at No 300. He reached a career-high of 123 last February.
Jamie Murray
World ranking (doubles): 8
Age: 29
Davis Cup record: Singles 0-1 (0-1 hard); Doubles: 5-3 (3-1 hard); Overall: 5-4 (3-2 hard)
After a absence of almost four years, Murray returned to the GB team at the start of the current campaign and made an immediate impact as he and Dom Inglot pushed the American Bryan brothers all the way. Inglot is one of six doubles partners Murray has had in this competition, another being his younger brother Andy with whom he teamed up to claim a vital point against France in the quarter-finals. That success made it two wins out of two for the siblings in Davis Cup play.
Season so far: It's been a fine season for the elder Murray brother and his Australian partner John Peers. They've won titles in Brisbane and Hamburg, while they fell just short at Wimbledon and the US Open, losing in the final on each occasion.
Dominic Inglot
World ranking (doubles): 26
Age: 29
Davis Cup record: Singles 0-0; Doubles 0-2 (0-0 hard); Overall: 0-2 (0-1 hard)
Inglot has yet to win a Davis Cup rubber but will still be able to draw strength from his previous outing which came here in Glasgow earlier this year. 'Dom the Bomb' put in an excellent performance as he and Jamie Murray pushed the Bryan brothers all the way that day, eventually losing 9-7 in the final set.
Season so far: A good one, if somewhat frustrating. A partnership with Florin Mergea started well only for the Romanian to end it out of the blue. Then came a knee injury which forced him to miss the claycourt season. However, he's now flourishing again with new partner Robert Lindstedt, the pair having won the title in Winston-Salem last month before reaching the semi-finals of the US Open.
Leon Smith (captain)
Was seen of something of a surprise choice when appointed in 2010. This was mainly due to his lack of a high-profile playing career. Instead he has a strong background in coaching and has used that to full effect in this role so far. His first tie came against Turkey when defeat would have seen GB relegated to the bottom tier of the global competition. That was avoided and it's been virtually up and up ever since. Smith has presided over 12 ties, winning 10, including GB's first World Group victory in 28 years last season. Now his side are into their first semi-final in 34 years.
AUSTRALIA
Bernard Tomic
World ranking: 23
Age: 22
Davis Cup record: Singles: 14-2 (7-0 hard); Doubles: 0-0; Overall: 14-2 (7-0 hard)
For all the sticks that Tomic is beaten with, his Davis Cup record is not one of them. He's only lost two of his 16 rubbers and one of those was to Roger Federer. Admittedly, only two of his wins have come in the World Group though with Australia having spent too much time for their liking outside the top flight in recent years.
Record v A Murray: 0-2 (0-2 hard) - last meeting, Miami 2013, 3-6 1-6
Record v Ward: 1-0 (1-0 hard) - last meeting, Eastbourne 2013, 6-3 6-4
Record v Edmund: 0-0
Season so far: Decent, if you take away all the off-court distractions, one which has seen him climb to a career-high in the ATP rankings. It certainly started well with a series of quarter-finals before the claycourt season which went predictably badly. Glad to be back on hardcourts, he duly won his first title of the season in Bogota in July. Made the third round at the US Open before being well beaten by Richard Gasquet.
Thanasi Kokkinakis
World ranking: 72
Age: 19
Davis Cup record: Singles: 1-2 (1-0 hard); Doubles: 0-0; Overall: 1-2 (1-0 hard)
Made his debut last season but only played his first live rubber earlier this year. Already he's been hero and villain for the Aussies. In March his win from two sets down against Lukas Rosol was an important one as the Czech Republic were beaten but in July a shock straight-sets loss to Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin almost proved very costly before his team staged a memorable comeback. Was dropped for the reverse singles in that quarter-final tie. Whether he is trusted on day one in Glasgow remains to be seen.
Record v A Murray: 0-0
Record v Ward: 0-0
Record v Edmund: 0-0
Season so far: One of development for the teenager. Kokkinakis has lost more main-draw matches than he has won with his best result being a run to the last 16 of Indian Wells.
Lleyton Hewitt
World ranking: 355
Age: 34
Davis Cup record: Singles: 42-14 (16-1 hard); Doubles: 16-5 (6-1 hard); Overall: 58-19 (22-2 hard)
In an era in which it has become the norm for players to 'take a break' from Davis Cup play, Hewitt has been one of the competition's true stalwarts, this year being his 17th successive season of playing in it. He's played in four finals during that period, winning the famous trophy in 1999 and 2003. His 16-1 singles record on hardcourts in Davis Cup play is worth noting and includes a memorable win over Roger Federer in the 2003 semi-final. A renowned fighter who leaves nothing out there, Hewitt's doubles record is also not to be sniffed at.
Record v A Murray: 0-1 (0-1 hard) - last meeting, San Jose 2006, 6-2 1-6 6-7
Record v Ward: 0-0
Record v Edmund: 0-0
Season so far: A farewell tour to be honest with the former world No 1 having announced in January that he would retire after the 2016 Australian Open. Hasn't played a full schedule and is yet to win back-to-back matches in 2015. However, one of those he did win was vital to Australia getting this far in the Davis Cup - he delivered against Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals after getting called up for the fifth and final rubber.
Sam Groth
World ranking: 55
Age: 27
Davis Cup record: Singles: 2-1 (0-1 hard); Doubles: 1-1 (0-1 hard); Overall: 3-2 (0-2 hard)
Was 26 by the time he represented his country in Davis Cup play and it was only earlier this year that he played in a live rubber for the first time. Played a key role in Australia's quarter-final win over Kazakhstan in July, winning both a doubles and singles rubber - his only live wins in the competition thus far.
Record v A Murray: 0-0
Record v Ward: 0-0
Record v Edmund: 0-0
Season so far: It's been a good year by the big-serving Groth's standards. It began with a run to the last eight in Brisbane and a third-round appearance at the Australian Open followed. Two Challenger titles - including one on the grass of Manchester - plus a quarter-final run in Washington lifted him to a career-high ranking last month. Groth, who once had a serve clocked at a record 163mph, is now knocking on the door of the world's top 50.
Wally Masur (captain)
Born in Southampton, Masur is only an interim captain, effectively keeping the seat warm for the soon-to-retire Hewitt. He took over when Pat Rafter quit the role at the start of the year and despite plenty of off-court distractions, he's steered the side past the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan to reach the last four. Handling the likes of Tomic and Nick Kyrgios - left out of this tie after his recent publicity-attracting indiscretions - has been a tough task for a man in his position but Masur is widely regarded as having done a good job during his spell in charge, so much so that there is talk of Hewitt's ascension being put back.
Join our live coverage of Great Britain's Davis Cup semi-final against Australia from midday on Friday.
