Davis Cup: Murray to lead Great Britain, Serbia without Djokovic

Paris Andy Murray will lead Great Britain against France at The Queens Club as Serbia travel to Argentina without Wimbledon champion Novak Djokavic in Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal action starting on FridayAndy Murray PicAFPMurray the world number three will be looking for a lift after his Wimbledon semifinal exit to Roger Federer as Great Britain host France a few kilometres away in West Londons Queens Club from July 1719 Britain will be bidding to reach the semifinals for the first time since 1981 where they will play either Australia or Kazakhstan who clash in DarwinMurray who lifted a fourth Queens Club title before Wimbledon will be joined on his favoured grass surface by James Ward who reached the third round at Wimbledon Dom Inglot and brother Jamie who lost in the mens doubles final on Saturday France have a talented lineup in world number 11 to 13ranked players Gilles Simon JoWilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet alongside doubles specialist Nicolas MahutThe French have won the Davis Cup nine times most recently in 2001 and are jointthird in the alltime list with Britain who have not triumphed since 1936 France captain Arnaud Clement said the team had been boosted by good performances at Roland Garros and Wimbledon Gasquet fell in the semifinals at SW19 to Djokovic with Simon reaching the quarterfinals at the All England Club for the first timeThey had a good Roland Garros now a good Wimbledon The guys are in good form In terms of confidence its the best we could have hoped for said Clement ahead of the first FrancoBritish clash since 1992 I think Andy is a good guy to bring in all the other guys to a good level warned Tsonga who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2012 Today they have a great team He has got his brother Jamie Murray he has James Ward and a few other guysThey play good tennis they play at home so for sure they will be a good team Kyrgios in spotlight In Darwin Australia also play their first quarterfinals since 2006 on grass against Kazakhstan Australias topranked player Bernard Tomic has been banned following a rant about Tennis Australia with Wally Masurs side spearheaded by 20yearold Nick KyrgiosKyrgios has been declared fit after a thighinjury scare and will be joined by Sam Groth Thanasi Kokkinakis and veteran Lleyton Hewitt Masur said he was sure Kyrgios ranked 41 would be up to the task I probably shouldnt say it but hes a future Grand Slam winner Masur said Hes an amazing player But you dont just walk into those situations Theres a lot of hard work to be doneMasur remains wary of a Kazakh side that have made the Davis Cup quarterfinals in four of the past five years Im actually nervous about this tie because the Kazakhs are really good Davis Cup players Masur said of his rivals whose top player is 63rdranked Mikhail Kukushkin They beat Italy in the first round Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi pretty significant winsIn Buenos Aires world number one Djokovic will be absent as Serbia take on Argentina in a repeat of the 2011 semifinal which the South Americans won 32 Djokovic clinched a third Wimbledon and ninth career grand slam on Sunday with captain Bogdan Obradovic having named Viktor Troicki ranked 20 and 96thranked Dusan Lajovic along with doubles specialists Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad ZimonjicLeonardo Mayer will lead Argentina in the absence of injured duo Juan Monaco and Juan Martin del Potro bidding for a semifinal place against either Canada or Belgium Canada will be without their top player Milos Raonic who is nursing a foot injury as his side travel to Ostend to play Belgium who are lead by world number 15 David Goffin