Davis Cup Captain Leon Smith breaks down the Japan tie & why he’s been impressed with Jacob Fearnley so far in his career
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The Lexus GB Davis Cup team get set to play Japan in their Qualifier first round on Friday as the Brits begin their campaign to return to the Final 8 later in the year.
Captain and LTA Head of Men’s Tennis, Leon Smith, has picked a new-look GB team this time around, with three singles players with one Davis Cup appearance between them.
Looking ahead to the tie, Smith is excited about what the Brits can produce against an experienced Japanese team and hopes the team can channel the ‘magic’ of the World Cup of tennis.
“Firstly, we’re very happy to be here,” Smith said in his press conference ahead of the first matches on Friday. “I think the venue is excellent. It's quite unusual coming to somewhere that has an existing tennis centre to host. I think it's made life easier because of practice and the match court all in one.
“I think it’s a very difficult tie. It’s obvious that we have two or three of our highest ranked players unavailable to play for us, which makes it more challenging.
“With that, you have a Japan team which is very strong, with good depth. Certainly, having watched Kei (Nishikori) play in Australia, he's started the year very, very strongly. So, it's going to be a very tough match for us.
“I think what's impressive about the Japanese team is their depth. That's even with Taro Daniel not playing, they still have Nishikori, (Yoshihito) Nishioka, (Yosuke) Watanuki, (Yasutaka) Uchiyama coming in, and (Takeru) Yuzuki I think is a very talented doubles player with a good future.
“But the special thing about Davis Cup is things can happen, you know, even though we are missing our two highest ranked singles players and our highest ranked doubles player. We still have good players here that give us an opportunity to be successful.”
While Jack Draper and Cam Norrie were unable to play in this tie, Smith can call upon the impressive depth in the British game at the moment as well.
The GB Captain has given a first call-up to British No.3 and rising star Jacob Fearnley off the back of an incredible start to his career and some standout results at the Australian Open.
He joins a wealth of experience with former doubles world No.1s Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury, as well as one of 2024 breakthrough British stars in Billy Harris.
“It's been really, really impressive what Jacob's been doing since he turned pro," Smith added. “Last June, he got his opportunities on the grass with some wild cards and took them, which allowed his ranking to keep going.
“Since then, obviously on the Challenger Tour throughout 2024, he’s had a huge amount of success. That's allowed him to establish himself well inside the top 100 now.
“Importantly for him, you see what he was able to do at the Australian Open. He coped with the (Nick) Kyrgios match extremely well. It was a brilliant atmosphere. It's brilliant to come through a match like that.
“Equally when he played (Arthur) Cazuax out in Court 6, it was an amazing atmosphere, a lot of French support. Again, it's a really good player and he came through that.
“I think also, if you look at the match against (Alexander) Zverev, he acquitted himself extremely well, so that’s all positive signs.”
Great Britain face Japan in the Davis Cup Qualifier first round from Friday 31 January to Saturday 1 February.
Matches start at 4:00 UK time on Friday morning and 3:00 on Saturday.
You can watch the tie live exclusively on the Tennis Channel.
For a limited time, you can get a monthly subscription to the Tennis Channel for less than £1 per month by using the code ‘LTA10’ on sign-up.
