Who should GB choose for their Davis Cup team?

With the Davis Cup final being played in Ghent in an week’s time, Britain should be the favourites with the advantage of having World Number 2 Andy Murray in their team. However this week, the ITF have decided to postpone Great Britain’s request to play Britain’s number 2 Alias Bedene in the Davis cup, leaving Leon Smith with James Ward, Dan Evans, and Kyle Edmund to choose from to fill Great Britain’s second spot for the singles.

Although Dan Evans played in the semi final, he lost both his singles matches, and is currently ranked 185 in the World, 30 places behind James Ward. Ward himself has been in poor form recently having only won a quarter of his matches this year. However, he has previously proved his worth to Leon Smith with some fantastic wins over the likes of John Isner in the Davis Cup previously, during arguably his best period of his career, having broken the top 100 in the summer.

However, with the Belgian team having home advantage, they have elected to play on clay, which isn’t really suited to James Ward’s game, and much more to that of Kyle Edmund. Edmund is on good form, having just broken the top 100, currently ranked 99, having won a Challenger event in Buenos Aires, but more importantly, on clay.

The Belgian singles players are likely to be David Goffin, currently ranked 16 in the world, and Steven Darcis, famous for conquering Nadal at Wimbledon in 2013, and has also beaten Thomas Berdych in the 2012 Olympic games. Darcis is currently ranked 85, just 14 places above Kyle Edmund, so judging by these statistics, it should be Edmund that plays in the Davis Cup final, however, he doesn’t hold anywhere near as much experience not only in Davis Cup, but in competitive matches as James Ward. Despite this, Edmund has the capabilities to thrive under this pressure and although Great Britain should win overall, with a superior doubles team of Dominic Inglot, and Jamie Murray, Kyle Edmund probably has the best chance of winning a match on clay in the final for Great Britain.