Great Britain Davis Cup 2021 team: GB tennis captain and player profiles - from Cameron Norrie to Dan Evans

Great Britain will start their Davis Cup campaign on Saturday 27 November 2021 when they take on Czech Republic in Austria.

Andy Murray will miss out on this year’s event as he intends to rest ahead of the Australian Open in January 2022.

The former World and British number one was key to Britain’s success at the 2015 Davis Cup when Great Britain won for the first time in nearly 80 years.

The team this year will once again be captained by Leon Smith who has captained the side since 2010 and he has selected Indian Wells 2021 Champion Cameron Norrie, Daniel Evans, Joe Salisbury, Neal Skupski and Liam Broady to compete in the 2021 Davis Cup FInals event in Europe.

Here is all you need to know about the GB Davis Cup 2021 team

Captain - Leon Smith

Smith was born in Glasgow and began coaching professionally at club level at the age of 18. He became a national performance officer for Tennis Scotland in 1988 and became the national training coach for Scotland in 2004.

He coached Andy Murray from the age of 11-15 and has remained friends with the former World number one.

Smith’s appointment as the Davis Cup captain by the LTA in 2010 meant that at the age of 34 the Glaswegian was the youngest GB captain since Paul Hutchins in 1975.

In 2011, Great Britain won promotion to Europe/Africa Zone Group I, and two years later won promotion to the World Group.

Under Smith’s captaincy, Great Britain won the Davis Cup for the first time since 1936 in 2015, beating Belgium 3-1 in the final.

Cameron Norrie

Norrie shot to fame earlier this year when he triumphed in the desert winning the Indian Wells 2021 Tournament.

Born in Johannesburg, Norrie turned professional in 2017 once he had finished his studies at the Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

He has a current career high ranking of number 12 in the ATP World rankings and has two singles titles to his name.

In 2018, Norrie won his debut Davis Cup match against the Spanish Roberto Bautista Agut. He ranked 114 at the time compared to his opponent’s ranking of 23 and came from two sets down to take the win in what John Lloyd, the former Davis Cup captain described as ‘one of the most impressive debuts of all time.’

Daniel Evans

Daniel Evans was part of the 2015 Davis Cup success story. Despite a rocky start to his 2015 efforts, which included a fine for failing to turn up to the F4 Futures event as well as struggling with a knee injury.

Recovered and ranked at 300, Evans was then selected over the injured Kyle Edmonds to represent GB. Great Britain won 3-2 and made it to the Davis Cup Final for the first time since 1978.

Evans then accompanied the nominated team as hitting partners and joined the team on the winner’s podium where they all received the same Davis Cup medals.

In 2019, Evans reached the final of the 2019 Delray Beach Open and subsequently became the British number one.

The 31-year-old has one career singles title, which he won earlier this year at the Murray River Open in Australia and is currently ranked at number 26 in the ATP world rankings.

Joe Salisbury

The third member of the nominated team is doubles specialist Joe Salisbury. Salisbury is currently ranked at number three in the doubles rankings and has eight titles to his name.

This will be the 29-year-old’s first venture to the Davis Cup but the Londoner recently won the US Open with his partner Rajeev Ra, beating fellow Briton Jamie Murray and his partner Bruno Soares.

Salisbury also won the US and French Open 2021 in the mixed doubles tournament with America’s Desirae Krawczyk.

Neal Skupski

Skupski is the current British Number three in doubles and has a career-high ATP ranking of number 14 in doubles as well.

He participated in the 2014 Davis Cup tournament where he won two out of his three matches.

Skupski won the 2021 Wimbledon doubles championship when he partnered with Krawczyk. He has also won his fifth ATP title in 2021 when he partnered with his brother Ken at the Mexican Open.

The pair of Skupski and Evans reached the Masters 1000 final at the Miami pOpen as well as the Monte Carlo Masters final.

Salisbury and Skupski won Skupski’s sixth title and second of the season at the 2021 San Diego Open.

Liam Broady

The final member of the Great Britain Davis Cup team is 27-year-old Liam Broady. He is currently ranked at 121 in the singles ATP world rankings and 247 in the doubles rankings.

Broady competed in the 2018 Davis Cup but lost in straight sets to Albert Ramos-Vinolas, leaving the British team 0-1 down against Spain.

Broady reached a Challenger semi-final in Calgary, Canada, losing to Maxime Cressy before Tennis was then suspended due to Covid.

He made his first GRand slam qualification at the 2020 French Open but lost in the first round to Czech player Jiri Vesely.

Broady achieved his biggest career win at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics when he beat the seventh seeded Wimbledon semi-finalist Hubert Hurkacz.

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