Tennis Australia has announced the Davis Cup team for the Semifinals against Great Britain. The tie will take place in Glasgow on September 18 – 20, 2015. Veteran Lleyton Hewitt will lead the roster, joining him is Bernard Tomic, Sam Groth, and Thanasi Kokkinakis. Nick Kyrgios has been left off the squad. He has been making headlines recently for all the wrong reasons following his controversial comments about Stan Wawrinka’s girlfriend. The encounter it set to be a rowdy weekend – the event was sold out in just ten minutes after the tickets went on sale.
Speaking ahead of next week’s clash against Great Britain. Australia’s Davis Cup Captain, Wally Masur, acknowledged that his team will go in as the underdogs, however, they are looking forward to a tough battle at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland.
“With Andy Murray leading an excellent squad who have shown they love playing for their country, Great Britain obviously go in as favourites on their home court,” Masur said today.
“But we are a proud Davis Cup nation and we love a good battle. We have had an amazing Davis Cup journey this year. The further we have gone, the more intense our drive to succeed. The importance of the occasion and the enormity of the challenge is incredibly motivating to our squad and, quite frankly, very exciting.”
The British team includes Andy Murray, Jamie Murray, Kyle Edmund, James Ward and Dominic Inglot. They will play in their first Davis Cup semi-final since 1981.
Austrailia has played Great Britian in the Davis Cup on 12 occasions since 1907, with them leading the head-to-head 8-4 against the Brits. Their most recent encounter was in 2003 at the Sydney International Tennis Centre where Australia won 4-1. The last time the Aussies lost to the Brits was in 1978.
Although Australia has won the Davis Cup title 28 times (only the United States has more titles – 32), the Aussies have not won the Davis Cup since 2003. Great Britain has not claimed the Davis Cup title since 1936. The winner of this tie will face either Argentina or Belgium.
