James Ward, Dan Evans and Jamie Baker will compete for the two singles spots for Britain’s Davis Cup match against Lithuania in March.

World number three Andy Murray recently withdrew from the squad handing the youngsters the opportunity to shine as they look to arrest the slide of British tennis.

British number 2 Alex Bogdanovic was overlooked for the second year running in favour of the youngsters despite them all standing around 100 places below him in the World Rankings.

Doubles specialists Colin Fleming and Ken Shupski are also included in the squad as Britain attempts to win its first Davis Cup match since beating Croatia in their World Group play-off win in 2007. Since then the side has slumped to the third tier of the competition and the selectors are understood to be looking for a fresh start.

World number 288 Baker is the only player in the squad to have won a Davis Cup match. He defeated Argentina’s Agustin Calleri in a dead rubber in 2008.

Andy Roddick thought it would be best not to take part in this year’s Davis Cup in order to avoid aggravating a knee injury. He clarified that the decision is only for this year.

“I’m not playing Davis Cup this year. I’m not retiring from Davis Cup,” he said after beating France’s Richard Gasquet at the Brisbane International quarterfinals.

The 27-year old injured his left knee late last year and he was sidelined for several weeks. He did not take part at the season-ending ATP World Tour finals. The Brisbane tournament is his first tournament back from injury.

The US team is slated to play Serbia in the first round in Belgrade this March. The matches will take place at indoor clay courts.

“At this point, we felt it was smartest in terms of long term health. It certainly wasn’t an easy decision.”

The US team last won the Davis Cup title in 2007 after beating Russia in the final.

World number two Rafael Nadal will lead defending champion Spain in this weekend’s Davis Cup final against the Czech Republic team.

The four-time French Open champion missed last year’s final over Argentina due to knee injury. Joining him in this weekend matches are David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco.

Nadal and Verdasco participated in the recently concluded ATP World Tour Finals in London where they both recorded three losses and no wins. They have a chance to redeem themselves this weekend, since the matches will take place at Palau Sant Jordi, an indoor claycourt venue, in Barcelona.

Watch the highly anticipated Davis Cup 2009 final between Spain and Czech Republic from December 4 to 6, 2009 HERE.

Czech tennis player Ivo Minar was slapped with an eight-month ban in competitive tennis after testing positive for a banned substance after a Davis Cup match.

According to reports, the results came from a sample taken during a Davis Cup quartefinal match against Argentina on July 11.

The banned stimulant methylhexanamine was discovered according to the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

Spain defeats Israel (4-1)

R1: David Ferrer (ESP) d. Harel Levy (ISR)
R2: Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) d. Dudi Sela (ISR)
R3: Feliciano Lopez/Tommy Robredo (ESP) d. Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram (ISR)
R4: David Ferrer (ESP) d. Andy Ram (ISR)
R5: Harel Levy (ISR) d. Feliciano Lopez (ESP)

Czech Republic beats Croatia (4-1)

R1: Radek Stepanek (CZE) d. Ivo Karlovic (CRO)
R2: Tomas Berdych (CZE) d. Marin Cilic (CRO)
R3: Tomas Berdych/Radek Stepanek (CZE) d. Marin Cilic/Lovro Zovko (CRO)
R4: Jan Hajek (CZE) d. Roko Karanusic (CRO)
R5: Lovro Zovko (CRO) d. Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)

Surprise semifinalist Israel is raring to prove that its place in the final four of the prestigious Davis Cup tournament for the first time is no fluke as it faces defending champion Spain in the Davis Cup 2009 semifinal. This highly anticipated match takes place at the Polaris World la Torre Golf Resort in Torre Pacheco Murcia in Spain from September 18 to September 20.

Spain will be represented by Tommy Robredo, Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Ferrero and Feliciano Lopez while the Israeli contingent consists of Harel Levy, Dudi Sela, Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.

The two teams have met thrice before with Spain winning all of them but the last time they met was in 1996.

The exciting Davis Cup semifinal match between Croatia and Czech Republic takes place from September 18 to 20 at the Sportska dvorana “ZATIKA” in Porec, Croatia. The Croatian team is composed of Marin Cilic, Ivo Karlovic, Roko Karanusic and Lovro Zovko . The Czech Republic is represented by Tomas Berdych, Radek Stepanek, Jan Hernych and Lukas Dlouhy.

This is the first meeting between the two nations in Davis Cup but they’re both former champions. Czech clinched the title in 1980 while Croatia emerged victorious among the rest in 2005 when the team was still led by Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic.

Check out the latest scores and latest results in the quarterfinal matches of this year’s Davis Cup:

Czech Republic, Croatia, Israel and Spain are through to the Davis Cup 2009 semifinals which takes place this coming September.

Zonal results can be found HERE.

This will serve as the third Davis Cup meeting between Croatia and United States. The Croatian team has never lost against the American team with a perfect 2-0 record. The US team will certainly try its best to stop this winning streak.

Here’s the official player lineup:

This will serve as the fourth Davis Cup meeting between Czech Republic and Argentina. The Czech team currently leads 2-1. However, Argentina won their last matchup in 2005 (5-0).

Here’s the official player lineup:

This will serve as the 15th Davis Cup meeting between Spain and Germany. The German team leads the head-to-head match up record 9-5. However, the Spaniards won three matches out of their past four encounters including last year.

Here’s the official player lineup:

This will serve as the second Davis Cup meeting between Israel and Russia. The last time they competed with each other was 25 years ago with the Russian team prevailing (3-2).

Here’s the official player lineup: