British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

Tennis Saltire · Junior player

Week 37 - Davis Cup Qualifier (World Group I): Poland vs Great Britain

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

RE: Davis Cup Qualifier: Poland vs Great Britain

Smudge226 · Club Coach

Tennis Saltire wrote:
Now that it's close to the time of this tie, I thought I would start the discussion on who will play etc.

I presume the squad will consist of 5 again so I'm going to predict: Cameron Norrie, Jacob Fearnley, Gilles Hussey, Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash.

I suspect Jack will rest and recuperate from the injury that forced him to pull out of the US Open.

Surely Harris ahead of Hussey but agree otherwise. Skupski and Salisbury would have to win the US to be considered ahead of Cash and Glasspool I would think, although fatigue was mentioned so this might figure in Smith's thinking. I'm sure he won't mix and match now at least, doesn't need to with two ready made dubs like this. Great for GB but rotten timing for Pattan maybe. Cash and Glasspool look a real force even with fatigue, they didn't drop serve and have won 4 out of six tournaments since the French. Very impressive, looking forward to see them on GB duty.

Smudge226 · Club Coach

Smith watched Harris against the Canadian. I'm expecting him selected. He will always struggle against a top 50 player in the craft department I think but the manxman can put away players outside the top 200 with his big hitting game I feel, reliable in that sense in a given format for Smith.
Thankfully the top Polish man is still out injured I think but the others are worth a discussion. I noticed a serge in form and US 3rd round for one of them. This is a must win tie.

9vicman · Futures qualifying

Smudge226 wrote:
Tennis Saltire wrote:
Now that it's close to the time of this tie, I thought I would start the discussion on who will play etc.

I presume the squad will consist of 5 again so I'm going to predict: Cameron Norrie, Jacob Fearnley, Gilles Hussey, Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash.

I suspect Jack will rest and recuperate from the injury that forced him to pull out of the US Open.
Surely Harris ahead of Hussey but agree otherwise. Skupski and Salisbury would have to win the US to be considered ahead of Cash and Glasspool I would think, although fatigue was mentioned so this might figure in Smith's thinking. I'm sure he won't mix and match now at least, doesn't need to with two ready made dubs like this. Great for GB but rotten timing for Pattan maybe. Cash and Glasspool look a real force even with fatigue, they didn't drop serve and have won 4 out of six tournaments since the French. Very impressive, looking forward to see them on GB duty.

Nominations are on Tuesday so no reason not to pick Cash/Glasspool, who will have had time to recharge. Davis Cup teams aren't picked on one event anyway.

I remember Salisbury and Skupski being poor in Davis Cup initially when we all thought they should be good, so happy to see them finally build a connection on court.

And yes slightly sorry for Patten. I sensed some disconnect between him and Leon initially based on comments Henry made suggesting Leon hadn't been in touch. But also you can't expect to be picked if there are established all country pairings.

The only way Giles Hussey will be there is as a hitting partner..

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, I would think Billy would be the 3rd singles players, with Dan next up, if Jack is out of contention and Cam and Jake are fit to go as the top 2.

We're building a good crop of top 250 ranked players with such as Oli Crawford in very good form and Jack PJ and Arthur Fery for maybe sometime down the line. But here and now, I reckon Billy.

Sorry ( and all the best to him ), I don't understand where Giles Hussey came from but anyway he should probably go back there.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Im wondering if the OP was looking back at Giles getting the late call up for the Japan tie and thinking he may get chosen again? As per others, v unlikely and no others choices and you never know! But I hope Giles doesnt get called up this time, however nice a chap he no doubt is!

seagull · Tennis legend

Arthur Fery gets a call up!

Norrie
Fearnley
Cash
Glasspool
Fery

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Oh wow, well done Arthur!

I guess Billy has been under par for a while and no one else has outshone Arthur recently, really, so well done Leon for calling him in.

I think the match is on hardcourts, so quite happy with this team.

Glad Julian and Lloyd are in there.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, good stuff. Leon must follow tennis as much as we do

I thought he would go for Billy's experience, with as I mentioned possibly Arthur down the line. He's clearly made a judgement that Arthur is actually the better option right now. Experience is that he doesn't do call ups just for the sake of it, he picks a squad to win - which is kind of I think meant to be his job. But fair dos, the same apparently cannot always be said of captains.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 2nd of September 2025 04:15:26 PM

Madadman · Grand Slam Champion

seagull wrote:
Arthur Fery gets a call up!

Norrie
Fearnley
Cash
Glasspool
Fery

All former college students/players if im not mistaken?

Tennis Saltire · Junior player

I know it wasn't intentional or meant in a nasty way hence why I didn't reply/react to it but I was kind of taken back with the banter I took for mentioning Hussey originally .

But it does seem that Leon does like to reward excellent form with call ups and, imho Arthur Greg is 100% deserving of his call up . Very soon he's going to overtake both Johannus Monday and Jack Pinnington -Jones in the rankings and make a serious push for the Top 200 (this night already have happened as he won in Cassis earlier).

Now, I'm going to defend myself in here regarding Billy Harris by saying that his poor run of form was the reason I had him omitted, I just felt it was fair to reward excellent form. Now I'll probably get more stuck for that and questioned why I picked Jake who has also been struggling for form and I totally get that but I just feel we have to persevere with him despite this. I actually didn't know at the time that both Hubi AND Kamil would be omitted, so now Jake's poor run isn't as much a concern as it would have been.

Looking at both team nominations, this is a must won otherwise serious questions will need asked of Leon Smith unfortunately!!

9vicman · Futures qualifying

Tennis Saltire wrote:
I know it wasn't intentional or meant in a nasty way hence why I didn't reply/react to it but I was kind of taken back with the banter I took for mentioning Hussey originally .

But it does seem that Leon does like to reward excellent form with call ups and, imho Arthur Greg is 100% deserving of his call up . Very soon he's going to overtake both Johannus Monday and Jack Pinnington -Jones in the rankings and make a serious push for the Top 200 (this night already have happened as he won in Cassis earlier).

Now, I'm going to defend myself in here regarding Billy Harris by saying that his poor run of form was the reason I had him omitted, I just felt it was fair to reward excellent form. Now I'll probably get more stuck for that and questioned why I picked Jake who has also been struggling for form and I totally get that but I just feel we have to persevere with him despite this. I actually didn't know at the time that both Hubi AND Kamil would be omitted, so now Jake's poor run isn't as much a concern as it would have been.

Looking at both team nominations, this is a must won otherwise serious questions will need asked of Leon Smith unfortunately!!

Hi TennisSaltire, wasn't giving you any stick, but just saying surely Billy instead of Hussey but agree otherwise. And I was wrong. Like the Fery pick and surely good enough to beat the Polish Nos. 3 and 4.

Danny1312 · Strong Club Player

Absolutely deserved! Well done Fery I doubt he will play much but for the future as well as now this seems smart! Fery as at a new CH also has most of those points recently without to many to defend for a while :)

indiana · Tennis legend

Not sure why questions would need to be asked of Leon if the team underperforms and doesn't win if it's a squad and team selection that look very reasonable picks ( and comments here on the squad so far look favourable )

Yes, he prepares that team but he can only do so much? Players form or lack of it on the day can spoil the best laid plans.