Italy v GB - Day 1 Part 1 Davis Cup

One of the great sporting weekends of the year coming up. Great Britain

trying to reach a first Davis Cup semifinal in 33 years. And to win it

for the first time in 78. Lords, ladies, and gentleman, on

behalf of the British Davis Cup team, I desire to express to you are

greatest appreciation that you have turned up in such large numbers.

Great pictures from the days of Fred Perry. Nowadays Andy Murray was an

integral part of a magnificent victory over in the USA in the last

round. Classic, Andy Murray! That could not

have gone any better! Yes! Reducing a fantastic performance for his

country. He has got it! That is one of the best victories you are ever

going to see in the Davis Cup. Great point. That is gorgeous. What

a point! Great Britain into the quarterfinals for the first time in

28 years. 120 nations entered this year. After

many years in the wilderness, great to see Great Britain in the final

eight. The France team playing in Germany is a formidable quartet.

Roger Federer playing for Switzerland, against Kazakhstan. If

things go to plan, here is what we have an course over the next three

days. Seppi against Murray. The doubles tomorrow, then on Sunday,

the singles, the significance of which will be determined over the

course of the first two days. I'm joined by Dominic Inglot and John

Lloyd. I do not want to start on a miserable note, but here are

pictures of what is happening in Naples at the moment. You will

wonder why on earth this match is about to be played outside instead

of inside like all the other matches this weekend. It is pouring with

rain and there was nobody there, except our correspondent. This looks

awful. This is the heaviest rain of the

morning by some way. It is absolutely pouring. They attempted

to take the covers of ten minutes ago. But you can hear and see, this

is verging on torrential. The prospects of play over the next

couple of hours are very slim. And no letup in the forecast. Every

chance that there will be no play at all. We wouldn't be here till

Monday. Nobody is giving up just yet but if the forecasts are correct,

there will not be much tennis in Naples today.

And the forecast for Saturday and Sunday?

Saturday is mixed. Sunday and Monday look gorgeous, set to be as

magnificent as it gets. A spectacular backdrop, this has been

built just a few metres from the bay. A stunning setting. They

deliberately went further south, yet the rain has come down. And it is

forecast to do so for much of the next 48 hours.

We can see the setting from that wide-angle. This might be beneficial

to Andy Murray. He has been unwell. Will they delay of one day benefit

him? -- the delay. I suspect he would not be 100%. Even

though he was able to practice, for all of about four minutes before the

rain came down. Another day to get the virus out of his system will

clearly be an advantage. And let's be optimistic and presume that James

Ward finishes his match today, you could have the prospect of Murray

playing Seppi tomorrow morning, and then a period of a couple of hours

rest, and being asked to play doubles. Smith has been adamant

throughout. If Andy Murray is available and fit, he wants to play

him in all three matches. Thank you very much. For Dominic and

John, you might be unemployed today. Might there be a silver lining if

there is no play today and Murray has extra recovery time?

I think so. A stomach virus, it definitely saps your strength. Clay

is the worst surface when you are not 100% fit. Andy should win on

paper against Seppi, but he will be kept out for a long time in front of

a ferocious crowd. So in some ways the rain may be a benefit to

Britain. We get the impression this is a tight-knit group of players.

Absolutely. They always hang out, go to dinner often, there is lots of

team bonding. They are happy with the presence of one another. And I

think they can do well because of that. One of the key things was who

would play the second singles, Dan Evans James Ward. It is tough, after

winning the last match. I like this surface, but everyone is ranked

higher than me. The competition is always high. It is a nice feeling to

be playing. Do you think not knowing for sure if you would play was

spurring you on? Of course. It is good to have a bit of edge. Has it

been awkward? Competing with a team-mate for just one spot? No, we

have been laughing about it all week. It is, have you heard

anything? We get on well, support each other, we are all part of a

team. You will lead Britain off against Fabio Fognini. It will be

feisty. It will be. It will be a level up from what we have had

before. Let's hear from the captain. It was a tough decision. Both

players have played a big part in the team to get us to this point.

But you need to look at everything individually. James has spent more

time on clay. He has more experience on it. Not necessarily the results,

although he has won a Challenger Event a few years ago. But doing

some of the things we would like to do, tactically, we felt he had a

slight edge. James Ward will play the formidable Fabio Fognini, number

13 the world. An extraordinary run on clay this year. These are the

final moments of the Italian triumph against Argentina, Fognini won all

three robbers. -- rubbers. A swashbuckling, swashbuckling,

effervescent, wonderful touch player. You can see how much it

meant to the Italians, a great swallow dive coming up.

We know each other well. I know him from when he was practising in

Spain. The Davis Cup is always a really tight match. It is important.

Important how we start the weekend. I will try to play my best tennis.

And try to win the first point for Italy. When this match does get

underway James Ward is very much the underdog, but that was the case

against the USA, so... Yes, and he played prudently to win

that match, but this is a different ball game. I do not think he has got

much of a shot. He will go out all guns blazing, but this is a tough

performer he was up against. I agree with Leon Smith, his pic was right.

After playing so brilliantly against the United States, he had to pick

him. If you are going into a match is a massive underdog, how do you

deal with that psychologically? You do not have as much pressure on you.

Not as many people think you can get the result. But you have self belief

and think you can cause an upset. The key is to try to hold your first

service games. Do not think about five sets, three sets, just each

service game. 1-1, 2-2, 3-3... Then you're in with a shot at the set?

Absolutely. It starts getting a little bit tight, edgy, and you

never know, maybe you have won the first set. Everything can change.

The sun goes down, the crowd goes down, your team-mates are pumped up.

It can be a very boisterous environment. It can. In Rome I

remember getting pelted by coins. My match was pretty quick, I stopped to

pick them up! Unfortunately I got hammered by their captain. A very

good player. I said, pass me if you can, and he did! But I think this

will be the toughest match of all the guys. We will pursue that at

some point today, as and when we find out when play will resume. Our

website and radio five live will keep you up-to-date. We will return

to show you the first ball whenever it is hit,