By Barry Newcombe
Britain’s tennis media had an early indication of how life is going to be with Leon Smith, who now heads the men’s game, when the Scot called a getting to know you chat within an hour of the start of the French Open in Paris.
Smith has a big squad to look after and while he will be checking on Britain’s players in the critical period which embraces the French and Wimbledon championships, one of the key questions of Smith’s reign will be if he can persuade Andy Murray to play in the Davis Cup match against Turkey at Eastbourne later in the summer.
Smith and Murray are long-term mates while Britain, without Murray, lost to Lithuania and are now in a Euro Africa zone group two play off with the Turks.