In order to qualify, GB are reliant on him using up one of his 'protected ranking' entries. Murray is counted as a world No 2 for these purposes under the scheme that helps the long-term injured return.

Despite being sceptical about the January date, Murray on Friday exercised his right to enter the GB team under his protected ranking of number three, which guarantees qualification.

Andy Murray will represent Great Britain for the first time since 2016 after being called up to the Davis Cup squad. The call up comes a day after Murray's memorable European Open triumph.

Tim Henman's return to top level performance tennis as captain of Britain's team for the ATP Cup was confirmed on Thursday night after the new competition was launched.

MIKE DICKSON IN MADRID: There are certain privileges that come with winning three Grand Slams and a Davis Cup for your country as Andy Murray is finding out this week.

Andy is playing in the Davis Cup for the first time since 2016 but is in the unusual position of being the singles number two, with Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund battling for the number one spot.

Andy Murray, who was on court for just shy of three hours, looked physically spent at the end of the 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 and admitted after that he is not in the best shape and so it was logical to rest him on Thursday.

MIKE DICKSON IN MADRID: Andy Murray was reduced to the role of courtside spectator as his brother Jamie and Neal Skupski put Great Britain through to the quarter finals of the Davis Cup.

MIKE DICKSON IN MADRID: GB has fought its way through to a quarter-final at this self-styled 'World Cup of Tennis.' It is not football, but the whole thing has a certain ring to it.

MIKE DICKSON IN MADRID: There is no haunting of this Great Britain Davis Cup team by the ghost of Andy Murray, and they charged through to the semi-finals on Friday night.

MIKE DICKSON IN MADRID: Nothing has been able to derail Kyle Edmund, not even the surprise of finding his opponent had been changed at the last minute.

MIKE DICKSON IN MADRID: Andy Murray was sitting on the team bench, contorted with anxiety, while his elder brother was heroically trying to force GB into the Davis Cup final.

MIKE DICKSON IN MADRID: Leon Smith hopes Great Britain can return to Madrid next year with an even stronger Davis Cup team after narrowly missing out on a place in the final.

EXCLUSIVE:Tim Henman is set to make a shock comeback to high performance tennis by captaining the Great Britain team in January's new ATP Cup.

MIKE DICKSON IN SYDNEY: They romped to a 3-0 win over the bottom team of their qualification group at the Ken Rosewall Arena which included Dan Evans taking down world No 46 Radu Albot 6-2 6-2.

MIKE DICKSON IN SYDNEY: It might not be coincidence that Dan Evans pulled off one of the best wins of his career on Sunday while having Tim Henman courtside, talking him through the match.

Beth Robinson, 31, from Scunthorpe believes the scan-as-you-go machine she was using didn't pick up a handful of items in her shopping - some of which cost as little as 70p.

A new report, from trade magazine The Grocer, found the average cost of a Christmas shop at Asda, was £6.33 less than its nearest rival, making it the cheapest UK supermarket to shop from.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Animal Justice Project has accused Gressingham Foods of leaving birds suffer painful deaths in cruel and unhygienic conditions at multiple sites in Norfolk.

The study by trade magazine The Grocer compared a shopping basket of 33 typical grocery items, such as skimmed milk, sliced bread, baked beans and dried pasta.

Stockpiling of household goods means that many aisles in Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Asda, Lidl and Aldi up and down the UK are looking increasingly desolate.

The price of oil has collapsed from more than £40 at the beginning of March to just £24 a barrel last week, leading to heavy falls in the wholesale prices of petrol and diesel.

The closely-watched Markit/CIPS Flash UK Composite Purchasing Managers' Index fell to a new record low of 12.9 - down precipitously from an already low reading 36 in March.

As the economic toll of lockdown starts to rear its ugly head, employment, new orders and output in the sector fell at the fastest pace for 28 years last month.

As a nation in lockdown commemorated VE-Day, here is something to ponder. In the midst of the War, policymakers in Britain and around the world were deep in planning for the peace.

The Gypsy King annihilated Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas to take the WBC crown and the pair are set for a dream showdown when the COVID-19 lockdown is lifted.

Some sectors look good value for investors, while others will be best avoided.

The latest public policy intervention to support R&D and start-ups through the worst of the Covid-19 crisis is right. Some will complain the government is slow to react and lags behind Germany.

Damage done to Britain's prosperity by the severity of the lockdown is terrifying. It has not been made any easier by the wilful destruction of the country's smaller enterprises.

As a nation in lockdown commemorated VE-Day, here is something to ponder. In the midst of the War, policymakers in Britain and around the world were deep in planning for the peace.

The Chancellor looks set to admit in the Autumn Statement that the national debt will not be falling as a percentage of national income by 2015-16.

The scheme will focus on s road improvements, housing and local infrastructure, regional growth and business, science, and schools and colleges.

The yen has seen the biggest increase with 2019 sales rising 42% compared with the year before - despite sterling falling against the currency.

Britain's foreign aid budget soared £623million to a record £15.2billion in 2019, it has emerged. The nation paid £1 out of every £8 in foreign aid given by 29 major countries, figures reveal.

The 1000-year-old Allerton Oak in Calderstones Park, Liverpool, will represent the UK in the European Tree of the Year contest which begins in February.

Connie Talbot has returned to Britain's Got Talent, 12 years after making the 2007 final with her angelic voice.

The compère, who has also worked on X Factor, entered rehab last month after celebrities including Simon Cowell and Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly helped pay towards his treatment.

Froome stands to become Britain's first Grand Tour winner and add a seventh title to his collection after 2011 Vuelta a Espana champion Juan Jose Cobo was found guilty of a doping violation.

Data for the trust's Wetland Bird Survey - which has been running for 70 years - is collected monthly by a network of volunteer across British wetlands.

This type of lottery already exists in some poverty stricken states in the US - could a launch here help lower income households into the savings habit, while satisfying a craving to gamble?

One positive from this devastating coronavirus pandemic, is the willingness for more people to get in the kitchen to cook and adapt recipes for the ingredients they have knocking around.

Reddit users, from all over the world, have shared the eye-opening antics of their awful flatmates in an astonishing gallery. Pictures show filth-encrusted toilets to pasta dishes with mould.

PETER HITCHENS: The idea that criminals are bad people who need to be punished and deterred has been abandoned. Crime is now officially a disease to be cured by 'treatment'.

PETER HITCHENS: I have serious doubts about whether our Government has any idea how to slow the spread of this virus. I suspect it quietly reached these shores long before anyone noticed.

PETER HITCHENS: Here I am, asking bluntly - is the closedown of the country the right answer to the coronavirus? If we have this wrong we have a great deal to lose.

Britons have been using Google to look up the Government's guidance on helping firms with furloughed workers to keep them employed but without working.

After schools were closed in March and children were sent home, many pupils have been taught by their parents and taken to Google themselves to help with school work.

A retired NHS worker snapped this uplifting picture of what appears to be silver-lined clouds in the shape of the British Isles.

Amaan Zameer, 30, Mohammed Nadeem, 28, Nadeem Arshad, 42, (who admitted a lead role) and Zahir Hussain, 31, stole at least 117 vehicles from across England in burglaries and carjackings.

At the launch event in Cupertino, California, the iPhone maker debuted a white titanium card with no number, security code, expiry date or name, only the Apple logo. Could it launch in Britain too?