:00:34. > :00:43.One of the great sporting weekends of the year coming up. Great Britain
:00:44. > :00:55.trying to reach a first Davis Cup semifinal in 33 years. And to win it
:00:56. > :01:01.for the first time in 78. Lords, ladies, and gentleman, on
:01:02. > :01:05.behalf of the British Davis Cup team, I desire to express to you are
:01:06. > :01:20.greatest appreciation that you have turned up in such large numbers.
:01:21. > :01:30.Great pictures from the days of Fred Perry. Nowadays Andy Murray was an
:01:31. > :01:38.integral part of a magnificent victory over in the USA in the last
:01:39. > :01:53.round. Classic, Andy Murray! That could not
:01:54. > :02:04.have gone any better! Yes! Reducing a fantastic performance for his
:02:05. > :02:10.country. He has got it! That is one of the best victories you are ever
:02:11. > :02:25.going to see in the Davis Cup. Great point. That is gorgeous. What
:02:26. > :02:34.a point! Great Britain into the quarterfinals for the first time in
:02:35. > :02:39.28 years. 120 nations entered this year. After
:02:40. > :02:47.many years in the wilderness, great to see Great Britain in the final
:02:48. > :02:56.eight. The France team playing in Germany is a formidable quartet.
:02:57. > :03:03.Roger Federer playing for Switzerland, against Kazakhstan. If
:03:04. > :03:13.things go to plan, here is what we have an course over the next three
:03:14. > :03:18.days. Seppi against Murray. The doubles tomorrow, then on Sunday,
:03:19. > :03:26.the singles, the significance of which will be determined over the
:03:27. > :03:33.course of the first two days. I'm joined by Dominic Inglot and John
:03:34. > :03:39.Lloyd. I do not want to start on a miserable note, but here are
:03:40. > :03:45.pictures of what is happening in Naples at the moment. You will
:03:46. > :03:49.wonder why on earth this match is about to be played outside instead
:03:50. > :03:55.of inside like all the other matches this weekend. It is pouring with
:03:56. > :04:04.rain and there was nobody there, except our correspondent. This looks
:04:05. > :04:10.awful. This is the heaviest rain of the
:04:11. > :04:15.morning by some way. It is absolutely pouring. They attempted
:04:16. > :04:25.to take the covers of ten minutes ago. But you can hear and see, this
:04:26. > :04:31.is verging on torrential. The prospects of play over the next
:04:32. > :04:35.couple of hours are very slim. And no letup in the forecast. Every
:04:36. > :04:44.chance that there will be no play at all. We wouldn't be here till
:04:45. > :04:47.Monday. Nobody is giving up just yet but if the forecasts are correct,
:04:48. > :04:53.there will not be much tennis in Naples today.
:04:54. > :05:04.And the forecast for Saturday and Sunday?
:05:05. > :05:11.Saturday is mixed. Sunday and Monday look gorgeous, set to be as
:05:12. > :05:20.magnificent as it gets. A spectacular backdrop, this has been
:05:21. > :05:29.built just a few metres from the bay. A stunning setting. They
:05:30. > :05:36.deliberately went further south, yet the rain has come down. And it is
:05:37. > :05:41.forecast to do so for much of the next 48 hours.
:05:42. > :05:49.We can see the setting from that wide-angle. This might be beneficial
:05:50. > :06:04.to Andy Murray. He has been unwell. Will they delay of one day benefit
:06:05. > :06:11.him? -- the delay. I suspect he would not be 100%. Even
:06:12. > :06:18.though he was able to practice, for all of about four minutes before the
:06:19. > :06:23.rain came down. Another day to get the virus out of his system will
:06:24. > :06:28.clearly be an advantage. And let's be optimistic and presume that James
:06:29. > :06:34.Ward finishes his match today, you could have the prospect of Murray
:06:35. > :06:38.playing Seppi tomorrow morning, and then a period of a couple of hours
:06:39. > :06:52.rest, and being asked to play doubles. Smith has been adamant
:06:53. > :06:59.throughout. If Andy Murray is available and fit, he wants to play
:07:00. > :07:10.him in all three matches. Thank you very much. For Dominic and
:07:11. > :07:17.John, you might be unemployed today. Might there be a silver lining if
:07:18. > :07:28.there is no play today and Murray has extra recovery time?
:07:29. > :07:32.I think so. A stomach virus, it definitely saps your strength. Clay
:07:33. > :07:40.is the worst surface when you are not 100% fit. Andy should win on
:07:41. > :07:47.paper against Seppi, but he will be kept out for a long time in front of
:07:48. > :07:53.a ferocious crowd. So in some ways the rain may be a benefit to
:07:54. > :08:02.Britain. We get the impression this is a tight-knit group of players.
:08:03. > :08:07.Absolutely. They always hang out, go to dinner often, there is lots of
:08:08. > :08:11.team bonding. They are happy with the presence of one another. And I
:08:12. > :08:19.think they can do well because of that. One of the key things was who
:08:20. > :08:37.would play the second singles, Dan Evans James Ward. It is tough, after
:08:38. > :08:43.winning the last match. I like this surface, but everyone is ranked
:08:44. > :08:52.higher than me. The competition is always high. It is a nice feeling to
:08:53. > :08:59.be playing. Do you think not knowing for sure if you would play was
:09:00. > :09:08.spurring you on? Of course. It is good to have a bit of edge. Has it
:09:09. > :09:13.been awkward? Competing with a team-mate for just one spot? No, we
:09:14. > :09:22.have been laughing about it all week. It is, have you heard
:09:23. > :09:29.anything? We get on well, support each other, we are all part of a
:09:30. > :09:36.team. You will lead Britain off against Fabio Fognini. It will be
:09:37. > :09:44.feisty. It will be. It will be a level up from what we have had
:09:45. > :09:50.before. Let's hear from the captain. It was a tough decision. Both
:09:51. > :09:55.players have played a big part in the team to get us to this point.
:09:56. > :10:03.But you need to look at everything individually. James has spent more
:10:04. > :10:09.time on clay. He has more experience on it. Not necessarily the results,
:10:10. > :10:14.although he has won a Challenger Event a few years ago. But doing
:10:15. > :10:24.some of the things we would like to do, tactically, we felt he had a
:10:25. > :10:27.slight edge. James Ward will play the formidable Fabio Fognini, number
:10:28. > :10:35.13 the world. An extraordinary run on clay this year. These are the
:10:36. > :10:44.final moments of the Italian triumph against Argentina, Fognini won all
:10:45. > :10:45.three robbers. -- rubbers. A swashbuckling, swashbuckling,
:10:46. > :10:54.effervescent, wonderful touch player. You can see how much it
:10:55. > :11:04.meant to the Italians, a great swallow dive coming up.
:11:05. > :11:10.We know each other well. I know him from when he was practising in
:11:11. > :11:17.Spain. The Davis Cup is always a really tight match. It is important.
:11:18. > :11:23.Important how we start the weekend. I will try to play my best tennis.
:11:24. > :11:30.And try to win the first point for Italy. When this match does get
:11:31. > :11:37.underway James Ward is very much the underdog, but that was the case
:11:38. > :11:40.against the USA, so... Yes, and he played prudently to win
:11:41. > :11:49.that match, but this is a different ball game. I do not think he has got
:11:50. > :11:55.much of a shot. He will go out all guns blazing, but this is a tough
:11:56. > :12:02.performer he was up against. I agree with Leon Smith, his pic was right.
:12:03. > :12:13.After playing so brilliantly against the United States, he had to pick
:12:14. > :12:19.him. If you are going into a match is a massive underdog, how do you
:12:20. > :12:24.deal with that psychologically? You do not have as much pressure on you.
:12:25. > :12:30.Not as many people think you can get the result. But you have self belief
:12:31. > :12:38.and think you can cause an upset. The key is to try to hold your first
:12:39. > :12:48.service games. Do not think about five sets, three sets, just each
:12:49. > :12:55.service game. 1-1, 2-2, 3-3... Then you're in with a shot at the set?
:12:56. > :12:59.Absolutely. It starts getting a little bit tight, edgy, and you
:13:00. > :13:05.never know, maybe you have won the first set. Everything can change.
:13:06. > :13:12.The sun goes down, the crowd goes down, your team-mates are pumped up.
:13:13. > :13:22.It can be a very boisterous environment. It can. In Rome I
:13:23. > :13:27.remember getting pelted by coins. My match was pretty quick, I stopped to
:13:28. > :13:34.pick them up! Unfortunately I got hammered by their captain. A very
:13:35. > :13:41.good player. I said, pass me if you can, and he did! But I think this
:13:42. > :13:50.will be the toughest match of all the guys. We will pursue that at
:13:51. > :13:55.some point today, as and when we find out when play will resume. Our
:13:56. > :14:01.website and radio five live will keep you up-to-date. We will return
:14:02. > :14:03.to show you the first ball whenever it is hit,