Any doubts concerning the state of Andy Murray's left ankle, and his involvement next week in Britain's Davis Cup tie against Serbia and Montenegro, in Glasgow, all but disappeared yesterday.

The Scottish teenager, who underwent a scan on the ankle to evaluate his fitness, felt no pain after practising "flat out" for an hour at London's Queen's Club.

The 18-year-old Scot had sprained his ankle in his opening-round defeat to Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka in Miami, at the Nasdaq-100 Open last Wednesday, and in his post-match interviews he had said he might be forced to withdraw from the Euro-African Zone tie, a week today at Glasgow's Braehead Arena.

Murray had the ankle scanned at the New Victoria Hospital, in Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, yesterday lunchtime, and in the afternoon he practised for an hour at Queen's Club with his Davis Cup team-mate Arvind Parmar.

It is understood Murray was told of the full results of the scan late last night.

Jeremy Bates, Britain's Davis Cup captain, watched Murray during his practice at Queen's Club, on a fast court similar to the surface which will be used in Scotland.

He said that he was not expecting any "shocks" regarding the avail-ability of his leading player for Britain's first home tie for more than three years.

Murray had not shown any signs during his practice that the ankle was causing him any pain or serious discomfort, Bates said.

"Andy was practising for an hour at Queen's Club and, although he was not playing any sets, he was hitting the ball flat out and moving well. He did not seem to be in any pain at all from the ankle and I didn't feel the need to ask him directly about the ankle.

"He has had some problems with the ankle before, and he will probably have to be careful with his ankle throughout his career, but I am extremely hopeful that he will be there in Scotland for the Davis Cup."

The scan was carried out eight days after the sprain, and had been delayed because Murray had requested that Jean-Pierre Bruyere, his fitness trainer, was present for the examination; the Frenchman knows the history of Murray's ankle problems and was well-equipped to offer expert opinion on any possible injury.

Bates said that Bruyere had also been at Queen's Club yesterday during Murray's practice session.

Murray's concerns about his ankle had caused considerable concern at the west London headquarters of the Lawn Tennis Association, who had opted to stage the tie north of the border so that they could capitalise on the teenager's popularity.

Murray hurt the same ankle during last summer's Stella Artois Championships at Queen's Club, and, as a precaution, has since worn a plastic brace, which he snapped when losing his footing against Wawrinka.

Taken from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2006/03/31/stmurr31.xml&sSheet=/sport/2006/03/31/ixtenn.html

-- Edited by UltimateSlabbaFan at 06:56, 2006-03-31