Great Britain's Davis Cup team will face a rematch with the United States in the first round of the World Group next March.
Britain secured their place at the elite level of the competition for a second consecutive season by scoring an upset win over USA in San Diego in February but then lost narrowly to Italy in the quarter-finals. Because Britain played on US soil the last time the teams met, this tie will be played in Britain from March 6 to 8.
USA had been favoured to win the last tie but their choice of clay backfired with James Ward's victory over Sam Querrey, coupled with two wins for Andy Murray.
A home tie will not necessarily make Britain favourites, though, given USA were without their No.1, John Isner, this year. Selecting a surface will not be easy for captain Leon Smith and his team given the fast indoor court they have selected for home ties in the past would also suit the US. The prowess of the Americans' doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan means whoever is picked as No.2 singles player - probably Ward - is likely to have to win a rubber.
It remains to be seen what effect Murray's declaration of support for an independent Scotland will have on his commitment to a British Davis Cup team, although he has always stressed his pride at representing Britain in the past.
The 27-year-old played sporadically while Britain were in the lower reaches of the competition but has been an ever-present over the last three ties. His loss to Italy's Fabio Fognini in April was only his second in 19 singles rubbers, and he has committed to playing singles and doubles to help Britain's cause.
Hours before the polls opened, Murray wrote on Twitter: "Huge day for Scotland today! no campaign negativity last few days totally swayed my view on it. excited to see the outcome. lets do this!" His doubles partner in two of the last three ties, fellow Scot Colin Fleming, has also backed independence, as has Murray's brother Jamie, with whom he has previously played in the competition.
Murray said during the US Open that he would expect to represent Scotland at the Rio Olympics in 2016 should there be a 'yes' vote. What would happen to the Davis Cup team in that instance has not been addressed, but it may be that a unified British team could remain in place.
Victory for Britain over the USA would mean another home tie against either top seeds France or Germany in July, while the pick of the other first-round ties are derby matches between Argentina and Brazil and Serbia and Croatia.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article