Andy Murray arrived in Belgrade to support his Davis Cup team-mates yesterday, and captain Leon Smith believes he can still play a key role from the sidelines.

The Wimbledon champion decided earlier this week not to play in a Great Britain tie for the first time in more than three years because of this summer’s demanding schedule.

But he promised to travel to Serbia anyway and was as good as his word, heading straight to the Tasmajdan Stadium for the team’s afternoon practice session.

The captain said: “He was desperate to support the team, and it says much about him. Obviously he’s gutted not to be playing, he loves Davis Cup, he loves this team, he loves his team-mates.

“All of us are really pumped the fact he wants to come out and support the team from the sidelines, it gives us a big boost.”

Kyle Edmund will face former top 10 player Janko Tipsarevic in the first rubber of the tie today.

Quarter-finals: Serbia vs Britain; Italy vs Argentina; Czech Rep. vs France; USA vs Croatia.

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