Andy Murray backed to play in Davis Cup despite obvious fatigue

Great Britain captain Leon Smith admits Andy Murray will be tired ahead of next weekend's Davis Cup semi-final against Argentina, but is backing the Scot to play in the tie in Glasgow

The world No 2, who sat out the quarter-final in Serbia in July following his Wimbledon triumph, has been named in a provisional five-man team alongside Kyle Edmund, Dan Evans, Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot.

Murray eased through to the US Open quarter-finals on Monday night with a thumping win over Grigor Dimitrov while Jamie Murray is through to the last eight of the doubles.

Both brothers could still be playing this weekend if they reach the finals at Flushing Meadows.

"We'll wait for the players to arrive in Glasgow and see what state they're in," Smith said.

"They've played a lot of tennis this summer. We'll see how Andy and Jamie fare here (at the US Open).

"We'll look at the make-up of the team to see if we stick with three singles players and one doubles player, or whether we bring in Dom. Those options are still very much open."

The Davis Cup tie begins at the Emirates Arena on September 16, only five days after the men's singles final in New York.

But, unlike the Serbia clash, Andy Murray would not have to contend with a change of surface and, injury permitting, seems almost certain to play.

"There's no doubt he will be tired," Smith said. "The toughest matches are ahead for him here and he's played so much over the summer.

"He's going to be tired but looking back to last year's Australia tie when he was clearly hurting and fatigued but went out and gave everything. I don't think that will change."

Edmund rose to the challenge of replacing Murray superbly on the clay in Belgrade to extend the champions' winning run to six matches.

The 21-year-old would have cause to feel very hard done by were he to miss out in Glasgow having reached the fourth round of the US Open but Evans has also staked a strong claim.

He is narrowly ahead of Edmund in the rankings and matched his Wimbledon showing by reaching the third round in New York, where he held match point before losing in five sets to world No 3 Stan Wawrinka.

"It will be very tough. You'd say they both deserve to play," Smith said.

"We'll check what the court's like, slower or faster, and after the first couple of days you get a feel for what to go with."