Blow to British hopes as Murray withdraws from Davis Cup tie against Argentina

The British No 1 announced his withdrawal just before he was due to fly out and join his team-mates in Chile, where they are preparing on clay for the World Group first round clash.

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Out: Andy Murray will miss Britain's Davis Cup tie against Argentina

With the two remaining singles players, Jamie Baker and Alex Bogdanovic, surely out of their depth against a talented Argentine side, his absence extinguishes any possibility of victory for John Lloyd's team.

Murray's decision not to travel after undergoing knee scans in London also raises two obvious issues, the first of them being where representing his country stands in his priorities.

He has previously drawn attention to the problem posed by the demands of the Davis Cup — how it can mean abruptly changing surfaces and the effects that can have on someone with a history of right knee trouble — and did so again yesterday.

After expressing his disappointment, he said: 'Since returning from Australia, my knee is still bothering me and the experts have advised me that going from hard courts to playing five-set matches on clay and then back to indoor hard courts (he is entered into the ATP event in Marseille in the week immediately afterwards) could increase the chances of further injury and set me back even more.'

There is no question he genuinely enjoys playing in the Davis Cup, but as it offers no ranking points and little hope of glory with no other world class players in the team, its attractions clearly wane.

With the LTA no longer funding his coaching, there is less moral imperative for him to play and pulling out so far ahead of the match suggests these factors have swayed him.

The rapid progress of other young players such as Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga may also have focused his mind on putting self and ranking above representative obligations.

The other question relates to how his body can withstand the punishing pressures of the tour and the handling of his fitness regime.

Since the beginning of November, Murray has played just six tour matches and three exhibitions. Although he has got into excellent shape, January has not even passed and there are already fears about his health.

Jez Green, one of his trainers, admitted: 'Andy's workload in the off-season was incredibly high and put a lot of stress on the right knee. This is causing him some problems on certain movements.'

Lloyd tried to swallow his disappointment, saying: 'I feel sorry for Andy in that this will be a special tie and going up against Argentina's best guys in the most testing circumstances would probably have been one of the greatest experiences of his career.'

One thing for sure is that there will be plenty of interest at the LTA about his level of fitness should he play in Marseille just days after a now inevitable Davis Cup defeat