Tennis: Davis Cup definitely half full for Murray

Andy MURRAY believes Great Britain are on the verge of Davis Cup "excellence" as they bid to continue recovering from their low point in the competition.

A fifth consecutive defeat, against Lithuania in March last year without Murray, cost John Lloyd his job as captain and put the team on the brink of falling into the bottom tier of the competition.

But Leon Smith has since guided Britain to victories over Turkey and Tunisia to leave them one match away from a promotion play-off which could see them return to the Europe/Africa Zone Group I.

World No.?4 Murray has rejoined the squad for the first time since 2009 to help Britain's campaign continue upwards when they take on Luxembourg at Braehead Arena in Glasgow, hoping to set up a decider against Belarus or Hungary.

Murray, who faces Laurent Bram after James Ward opens against Gilles Muller later today, said: "It might sound silly but we're actually not that far away from being an excellent Davis Cup team.

"If James and Dan (Evans] can push themselves up, get more experience playing against guys like Gilles and getting used to winning against them, then we can have an excellent team.

"We have some very good doubles players, hopefully in the next three or four months we can have three or four in the top 50. I play good singles and when James and Dan get more experience and push up the rankings, we can have a very good team. I think we can do well."

Murray will line up alongside brother Jamie in the doubles on Saturday but Smith has numerous options. Colin Fleming, who was replaced by Evans as back-up after being troubled by a foot injury, reached the Wimbledon men's doubles quarter-finals alongside Ross Hutchins.

Ward moved up to 187 in the ATP world rankings after reaching the semi-finals at Queen's last month, where he was beaten by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. And the return of British number one Murray has convinced Smith that he assembled the strongest team since the days of Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman.

"With these guys now, we have a massive opportunity," Smith said. "James took the ties by the scruff of the neck last time, played really well and has experience to build on.