'You have to start somewhere' - inexperienced GB team bid for Davis Cup Finals

Cameron Norrie will miss Great Britain's Davis Cup tie with Ecuador this weekend, with qualification for November's eight-team finals on the line.

British number two Norrie felt pain in his arm during a practice session and will be replaced in Saturday's singles by world number 95 Toby Samuel.

"He wasn't able to accelerate on the ball like he wanted to," Davis Cup captain Leon Smith told BBC Sport.

"It's nothing major, but there's still a lot of tennis to be played this year and with that in mind, we had to make the difficult decision to replace him."

Great Britain have not reached the knockout stage of the competition since 2023, and they will have to do so this time with an inexperienced team.

Jack Draper has ended his difficult season early, while Jan Choinski and Jacob Fearnley are both unavailable with injury.

It means Samuel will make his Davis Cup debut against Andres Andrade in Saturday's first match, with British number one Arthur Fery following against Alvaro Guillen Meza.

Both of Ecuador's singles players are outside the world's top 200, but Fery's only previous appearance for his country was in Poland last September.

Asked if he was concerned about the lack of experience, Smith said: "I'm not sure it concerns me, but it is obviously a factor.

"Neal [Skupski] is in the team, Cam is staying with the team. I've had 16 years at this so I can hopefully help a little bit.

"But you want them to experience this. You have to start somewhere and I have a lot of confidence in Arthur, Toby and our doubles team.

"If they can put out the level of tennis we've seen over the course of the summer and before that, they'll give themselves a good opportunity."

British number seven Harry Wendelken, who is at a career-high world ranking of 175, was at the Copper Box as a practice partner and has been added to the team in Norrie's absence.

World number one Henry Patten will team up with new US Open champion Neal Skupski for Sunday's doubles, which precedes two reverse singles.

In July, Fery played on Wimbledon's Centre Court in a men's singles semi-final, but this will be the first time he has played for his country as the British number one.

He lost in the first round of the US Open in August but reached the Winston-Salem final in the build-up to the final Grand Slam of the season.

"I'm aware of the role I have as the number one player and I am representing my country, so there's always a little more responsibility," Fery told BBC Sport.

"But at the same time I've been able to deal with high-pressure situations a lot of times this year and I feel like I've done a great job with them. Tomorrow isn't going to be any different to that.

"I think there's no shying away from it - if I want to do great things in tennis and push on, be top 20 or top 10, I have to take this responsibility on.

"I'm ready to do that and represent my country. It's something new but something that I feel comes with the player I'm becoming."

Great Britain beat Norway 4-0 in the first qualifying round in February and are trying to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2023.

Ecuador may be the underdogs, but they were in the same role when they beat Australia comprehensively in February.

And they have won, famously, on British soil before. Ecuador beat a British team that contained Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski 3-2 on Wimbledon's Court One in July 2000.

The seven winners of this weekend's qualifying ties will join three-time defending champions Italy in the final eight stage in Bologna from 24 to 29 November.

"We've missed not being at that stage and it's up to us now to take that opportunity," Smith added.

"We have a good opportunity. It's never ever straightforward, despite what people might look at in the rankings - just ask Australia what happened in February.

"We're on it, we've got a good team, and we'd be thrilled to get to the finals."