Davis Cup captain Leon Smith plays down Great Britain's hopes against Slovakia Lendl cannot be accused of deliberately spiking Smith's guns in this instance, for although he and the Slovak team captain Miloslav Mecir both played for Czechoslovakia in the 1980s, he came from one side of the country and Mecir from the other. Neither were they great friends, despite facing each other across the net in two Grand Slam finals. "Ivan liked golf and I preferred fishing," said Mecir this week. In Murray's absence, the home singles players this weekend will be James Ward (ranked No 158 in the world) and Dan Evans (276), who has not appeared in this competition since the 2-3 defeat in Lithuania almost two years ago. That was surely the lowest point in Great Britain's Davis Cup history, and it triggered the resignation of Smith's predecessor John Lloyd. The British team recovered some vestiges of confidence last year, when they strode through the shallows of the Davis Cup with wins over Tunisia, Luxembourg and Hungary. But now they are back in Europe-Africa Zone Group I - surely the minimum standard for any self-respecting tennis nation. Smith was careful to play down British chances on Thursday. He said: "The rankings will show that here's a bit of a gulf in terms of where they [the singles players on either side] are at just now. Especially after the run that Lukas Lacko [the Slovak No. 1] has been on since the start of the year. We've looked at a lot of video footage and as a group we sit down and agree on some patterns of play. But I'm not putting any pressure on the lads to win, expectations have got to be realistic in terms of who we're playing against. I just want them to play free. Lacko, 24, has indeed been in fiery form thus far in a year that has seen him beat two former top 10 players in Marcos Baghdatis and Ivan Ljubicic. After reaching the final of an ATP tournament in Zagreb last week, he stands at No 65 on the ladder and is climbing rather than descending. On rankings, Slovakia's No 2 would be Karol Beck, but he has not played in this competition since he was busted for using clenbuterol (a banned steroid) during a Davis Cup tie in 2005. So their back-up singles man is Martin Klizan - hardly a household name but still a respectable No 120 in the world. In the doubles, Ross Hutchins and Colin Fleming will take on Michal Mertinak and Filip Polasek. Three of these players reached the third round of the Australian Open doubles, so it should be a difficult one to call. Smith said he had no issue with Murray's withdrawal. He explained: "I genuinely support what he's doing. He has got a great shot at winning a Grand Slam, whether it's this year or in years to come, and I think it's right for him to go and spend time preparing for that.