Great Britain have chosen to meet France on the grass courts of Queen’s Club in July’s Davis Cup quarter-final. The London club has been officially approved as the venue for Britain’s first home quarter-final since 1986.
The British number one and former Wimbledon champion – Andy Murray, had expressed a preference for facing the French on grass.
“Queen’s will be a perfect venue for our quarter-final match against France,” said Murray.
“I’ve been playing at Queen’s for 10 years now so I feel very at home there, as do the rest of the British team, so it’s a great choice.”
The tie will begin just 26 days after the Aegon Championships, the annual Wimbledon warm-up event at Queen’s.
Britain reached the Davis Cup quarter-finals for the 2nd year running with a 3-2 win over the United States in Glasgow last month.
James Ward, the British number 3, played a vital role in that victory and is a former semi-finalist at the the Aegon Championships.
“We all think that Queen’s is a great choice for Davis Cup,” said the Londoner.
“Andy has won the tournament three times, I got to the semi-finals a few years ago and the doubles guys have done well there too, so it feels very natural for us to want to play Davis Cup at a venue where we all feel very comfortable.”
Britain lost in the quarter-finals away to Italy on clay last year, and will return to Queen’s for the first time since a 5-0 defeat in 1990 by France.
“The grass courts at Queen’s are some of the best in the world and our team will look to use the courts and the passionate home crowd to full advantage,” said captain Leon Smith.
“The atmosphere and crowd support will be vital.”
The last time Britain reached the Davis Cup semi-finals was 1981, when they lost 5-0 to Argentina in Buenos Aires.
A future victory over the French team would set up a semi-final against either Australia or Kazakhstan which will be held in September.
Queen's Club to welcome GB quarter-final against France in Davis Cup
No comments:
Post a Comment