Tennis news - Andy Murray urges fans and players to 'give Davis Cup a chance'

The Davis Cup finals will take place over the space of a single week with groups of three countries feeding into an eight-team knockout bracket.

Each tie will consist of two singles and one doubles match with former world No 1 Murray hoping he can make an impact in both if required.

But the Scot is also hoping that Barcelona defender Gerard Pique, whose company Kosmos are leading the reinvention of the tournament, is given the time and patience he needs by the tennis community.

“I respect that he’s trying to do something new and different in tennis," Murray said.

“Tennis is not always the easiest to make changes in and this is a big change. We’ll see how it goes.

"I hope it goes really well because, if it does, that’s fantastic for tennis.

“I think there’s some people that seem to be hoping it doesn’t go well but I hope it goes really well and that it’s a big success.

“The players and all of the fans need to try to give it a chance to see how it goes and I think we’ll have a better idea after the tournament’s finished.”

Kosmos are due to spend as much as $3billion over the next 25 years, money which the ITF say will help spread the game far and wide across the globe.

But for Murray, the 32-year-old is just glad to be involved in team tennis at the elite level again after his two hip surgeries.

"It’s been fun, just being around all the guys again," Murray added.

"There’s lots of things I didn’t think I’d get to do again and certainly I didn’t expect to be here.

“Even a few months ago, I was losing in the second or third round of Challengers and was not playing particularly well, so I didn’t know if I was definitely going to be in the team.

“It’s nice, I feel more like I’ve earned my chance to potentially play again and hopefully I have a good week.”