Leon Smith hopes ITF will hand Great Britain Davis Cup finals wildcard

• Tennis News

British Davis Cup Team Captain Leon Smith hopes his side will receive a direct wildcard into next year's Davis Cup finals event. This year's World Group semi-finalists France, Spain, Croatia and the United States have already clinched a spot for the 2019 Davis Cup finals event.

If not granted a wildcard, Great Britain would have to win a February qualifying tie in order to qualify for the new-look Davis Cup. Great Britain beat Uzbekistan 3-1 at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow this past weekend in a World Group Play-offs tie.

With the win, Great Britain ensured themselves a seeding in February's qualifying. However, Great Britain may not need to feature February's qualifying as the ITF is set to hand two wildcards for the Davis Cup finals. Switzerland, led by two tennis superstars Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, is expected to win one of the two wildcards.

Great Britain is also a strong candidate for the wildcard spot, having won it all in 2015. Three-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 Andy Murray is expected to make his Davis Cup return next year. "It feels like the wildcards are going to be a tricky one for them to decide to allocate before the qualies.

It's difficult to have objective criteria," Smith said. "I'm really interested to see how they do it and their justification for who they give the wildcards to. Clearly, we'd be a strong candidate based on the last three or four years in the competition, how we've hosted ties.

Not sure what else goes into it but not sure many other nations would have got 3,300 kids in for a kids day midweek to do something for a Davis Cup tie. It will be interesting." Also read: Mikhail Youzhny reveals busy post-retirement plans