The Davis Cup will help lift Andy Murray out of his tennis doldrums, according to British skipper Leon Smith.
Murray admitted he was no longer enjoying his tennis after letting a 5-2 lead and a match point slip in a deciding match against Alex de Minaur in the opening round of the Paris Masters.
The former world No1 hinted he could pull out of his next scheduled tournament in Metz ahead of the Davis Cup tie in Malaga later in the month.
Despite Murray’s struggles during the latter part of the season, Smith said he was confident the team format of the game would help reignite him.
“End-of-season stuff is not easy,” said Smith. “Everyone’s been traipsing around and travelling. The Asian swing doesn’t make it easy as well. Everyone is tired after that and then you’ve got to keep pushing. And there’s a reason to keep pushing… the Davis Cup.
“It’s been important to us. We obviously had an amazing time in Manchester [where they qualified for the finals]. Everyone was right into it, we’ve got to keep that momentum going and keep the motivation high.
“The motivation won’t be a problem [for Murray] once we’re there. Once you get together as a team, everyone gets going. It’s just this period now, trying to combine a bit of rest, downtime, chilling out and getting away from tennis. But then you can’t stay too long away from it because you’ve got some bloody tough matches coming up.
“He’s a bloody good tennis player and he’s not been far away in some matches.”
