THE chance to play for Great Britain in the Davis Cup is one of the reasons Colin Fleming came back to tennis, the Scot explained yesterday. Fleming and his colleagues were only due to learn last night who has been selected to play against Ukraine in this Euro-Africa Zone Group One match, but as one of just two doubles specialists in the squad, he has a good chance of being included.
The 24-year-old from Linlithgow, a former doubles partner of Jamie Murray's, gave up the sport to return to his studies, but after graduating from Stirling University in economics and finance he decided to give it another go. That decision already ap
pears justified, although he admitted that he did not expect to be called up by Davis Cup captain John Lloyd quite so soon.
"Things like the Davis Cup are the reason why I'm back on the court playing," Fleming said. "Being involved in this tie is a great opportunity.
"Whether I thought I'd be involved in this tie, probably not judging from my rankings. But we had the play-offs last week, and that gave me the opportunity to show what I can do. I'm loving being here.
"I wanted to get back into tennis and give it everything I've got. I'm glad I've done that and it's been going well for me since I came back. To be involved here is a nice little reward for my hard work since starting again, and it's a great opportunity as well."
While Fleming may well have had a higher ranking by now had he not taken a break, he believes his time out was useful for sporting reasons as well as giving him a qualification to fall back on in later life. "It probably allowed me to mature mentally," he continued. "I've lost a couple of years, maybe, but I feel more mature and more focused on my sport."
Fleming and three other members of the squad – Joshua Goodall, Chris Eaton and James Ward – have yet to play in a Davis Cup tie, and the fifth man, doubles player Ross Hutchins, has only taken part in two ties. With the absence of Andy Murray because of a virus, this is the most inexperienced Great Britain team to take part in the competition for some time, but the squad all appear determined to make the most of their chance.
"It's disappointing not to have Andy here," Fleming accepted. "But this is a great group of guys, and we're all focused on doing a job."
Lloyd is only too well aware that the tie will be tough without the British No 1, but he pointed out that the Ukrainian team is not the most awe-inspiring in the sport. "Obviously this would have been a nice homecoming for Andy, and very special for the crowd," he said. "But the bottom line is this is a Davis Cup match and I think the crowd will get right behind the players.
"No team wants to be without their No 1 player, but for the guys it's very much business as usual. We're playing a good team, but (Ukrainian No 1] Sergiy Stakhovsky, although ranked pretty high, is not a top ten player. And the others are players we've beaten sometimes and lost to sometimes."
Lloyd is happy with the way in which the play-offs to decide the squad went last weekend, and Fleming also believes those matches helped the players hone their competitive edge. "The whole experience right the way back to the play-offs has been very positive and very constructive.
"If I get a chance to be involved, to play in Scotland in front of my home crowd would be an unbelievable experience. I think we're ready to go come the weekend."
The winners of this match will contest a World Group play-off – something Great Britain have done ten times in the past 11 years – in September against opponents to be determined by this weekend's other ties. The losers will go into a relegation match which will decide whether they stay in Group One or drop to Group Two.
The draw for the tie takes place today at 11.30am. The first two singles matches take place tomorrow from noon, the one doubles contest starts on Saturday at 1pm, and the reverse singles are on Sunday from noon.
The full article contains 739 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
