ANDY MURRAY will begin his quest for a fifth title of the year here when he plays Borna Coric of Croatia at the BNP Paribas Masters but it is the question of who might accompany him in singles at the Davis Cup final that continues to dominate the conversation.
Yesterday, after he and fellow Scot Colin Fleming had been beaten in the first round of the doubles, Murray lent his support to Aljaz Bedene, the British No.2, in his bid to play for his adopted country.
Under new ITF rules which were introduced on January 1 of this year, Bedene cannot play for Britain because he has previously represented Slovenia, where he was born.
Bedene is due to present his case to the ITF Board of Directors in Prague on November 16 and 17 and is optimistic because he had filed his passport application before the rule came into operation.
If he wins the appeal, Britain captain Leon Smith would be free to pick Bedene and though Murray would not be drawn on if she should be picked against Belgium, he clearly has sympathy for Bedene's plight.
“I’m not getting into that stuff because it’s not my decision,” Murray said.
“That decision is up to Leon, it’s not up to me and the rules are there. If he’s eligible….it’s not his fault that it has taken so long for this process to go through, my feeling is that he should (win the appeal).
“I think he handed in all his forms before Christmas last year so it isn’t his fault that the rules changed and that the process has taken…it is going to be almost a year so that’s not fair on him.”
Whether Smith picks him is another matter, of course, and Murray said his reason for training with Bedene next week on clay at London’s Queen’s Club was a simple one.
“There’s no one else to practice with on clay next week,” he said. “We were asking around, this is his last tournament now and he obviously lives in London so he’s the perfect guy to practise with.”
Murray and Fleming were well-beaten 6-2, 6-2 yesterday by Brazil’s Bruno Soares and Alexander Peya of Austria.
Today, Murray will bid for revenge over Coric after losing to the teenager in Dubai earlier this year.
Bedene will play American John Isner in another second-round match while Jamie Murray and John Peers play Raven Klaasen of South Africa and American Rajeev Ram in the doubles.
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