SMITH: GB WILL COPE

Great Britain Davis Cup team captain Leon Smith has said that the absence of Andy Murray from the squad that will face Slovakia in the Scottish city of Glasgow, Murray’s home town, means that the team has had to work hard ahead of the tie, knowing that all eyes will be on the team and how they manage to do without their star player in the lineup.

Smith also added that the other lads have also taken this as an inspiration and they want to excel in the absence of the British number one as they try to make a name for themselves ahead of the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Smith took charge of the team in April of 2010 and oversaw the team’s promotion, meaning that Great Britain are now just one step away from returning to the prestigious World Group of the Davis Cup, where they played for the last time when Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski led the British charge.

Smith knows that the pressure is on the team ahead of the tie without their leading player in Andy Murray but speaking to the journalists ahead of the tie, Smith said that they had the team together for almost a week now and they have trained hard enough to avoid any upset. He further added that without Murray in their side, the team will give even more importance to their opponents than they usually do and that will be a good thing for them.

James Ward has been drafted into the side as the replacement for the world number four and the team captain is doing everything so that the spotlight stays away from the youngster. He said that Ward is not filling the shoes of Andy Murray and should not be expected to perform at the same level as Murray.

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Movie Score: five / five

Murray Targets Australian Open

World number 4 and three time finalist of Grand Slam events, Andy Murray is looking to go one step ahead this season and lay his hands on the coveted title of Grand Slam Winner. The 24 year old Scotsman aims to win the first Grand Slam of the tournament, the Australian Open which begins Down Under in a couple of Weeks’ time. Murray has been training extremely hard for the start of the season and he even gave his Christmas celebrations a miss and instead chose to run a few miles on the beach near his apartment in Florida.

2011 has been a wonderful year for the top ranked Brit during which he won five titles on the ATP Tour and also reached the final of the Australian Open where he lost to eventual world number one Novak Djokovic. But Andy Murray believes that his prime weakness has been his ability in not being able to grind out results, particularly in crunch matches. He failed to win important matches in Grand Slam events as well leading to his ouster before the latter stages of the tournament and he is looking to improve on that statistic.

Murray, who became the third ranked player in the world, did not play in the year ending ATP Masters Series leading him to drop back into fourth place but he is not bothered about the rankings as long as he can get his hands on a Grand Slam trophy and he has targeted the Australian Open first.

The 2012 season will begin for Andy Murray at Brisbane at the Brisbane International as he looks to get back into match shape before the start of the Grand Slam event on the 16^th of January, 2012. Murray will take to the court as the number one seed.

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Video Rating: five / 5

Tennis Foundation Official Beacon site

Video Score: 5 / five

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Video Score: four / 5