The men hoping to take home the Davis Cup title for Great Britain

Great Britain’s captain Leon Smith has named five players to travel to Ghent, a squad he has to reduce to four by lunchtime on Thursday 26th. Anyone not in the final four cannot play in the final.

Age: 28

Height: 1.91m (6ft 3in)

Current rank: 2

Highest rank: 2

Greatest achievements: 35 singles titles, including Olympic gold medal (2012), US Open champion (2012), Wimbledon champion (2013).

The lynchpin of the British team, of whom at least two singles victories are expected, and often a doubles win as well. The big question mark is whether Murray is up for three long matches in three days – he looked at the end of his strength in the fourth rubber of the quarter-final against France in July, but scraped through on force of character. Much depends on how his back holds up on the clay after a week on the hard court of London’s O2 Arena. If the British are 2-0 up after the first day, he may well be rested in the doubles, given that he starts as firm favourite against David Goffin in the first of Sunday’s singles after his psychologically significant drubbing of Belgium’s top player at the Paris Masters two weeks ago.

Age: 29

Height: 1.91m (6ft 3in)

Current rank: 7 (doubles)

Highest rank: 7 (doubles)

Greatest achievements: 14 doubles titles, including Wimbledon mixed (with Jelena Jankovic) in 2007; runner-up at Wimbledon and US Open this year (with John Peers).

The second certainty on the team sheet after his younger brother. He realised early in his career that he wouldn’t make it as a singles player, so focused on doubles and has come good this year, finishing the regular tour year as third-best pair with the Australian John Peers. The left-hander has played doubles with his more illustrious brother on and off since they were kids, so they would be Leon Smith’s first-choice pair for the Saturday of the final. But he’s sufficiently versatile that if Andy has a long singles on Friday, Jamie could play doubles either with Dom Inglot – a specialist in the format – or with one of the other singles players.

Age: 28

Height: 1.91m (6ft 3in)

Current rank: 155

Highest rank: 89 (July 2013)

Greatest achievements: Four challenger titles, including Bangalore this autumn.

For a while Ward was the automatic No 2 to Murray, and produced some great form in the Davis Cup. But his form dipped alarmingly in the middle of this year, he lost his place in the British team to Dan Evans for September’s semi-final against Australia, and he may well lose out to Kyle Edmund for the second singles slot in this final. His experience and good results on clay (he beat Sam Querrey in five sets in San Diego in last year’s Davis Cup) may give him the nod, but even if he fails to make it to the final four nominated players, he is worth his place in Ghent for his past exploits that put Britain in the position of being able to challenge for the trophy in 2015, as well as his 15-13 final-set win over John Isner in March.

Age: 20

Height: 1.88m (6ft 2in)

Current rank: 99

Highest rank: 99

Greatest achievements: 3 Challenger titles (all this year), five-set victory in first round of 2015 French Open.

The future of British tennis, and the one member of the victorious British Junior Davis Cup team from 2011 to have pressed on. He reached the second round of the French Open in May with a gutsy win over Stéphane Robert after coming through three rounds of qualifying. Seeing a Davis Cup place available, he travelled to South America to play on clay, and won the Challenger tournament in Buenos Aires last week. That could see him picked ahead of Ward for the second singles berth, but a 20-year-old making his Davis Cup debut in a final is a risky business – it happened to Paul-Henri Mathieu in 2002, he ended up losing the decisive fifth match, and has been traumatised by the experience ever since. Born in Johannesburg, Edmund moved to North Yorkshire aged three.

Age: 29

Height: 1.96 (6ft 5in)

Current rank: 23 (doubles)

Highest rank: 18 (doubles, May 2014)

Greatest achievements: 4 titles, 1 this year (Winston-Salem).

Another doubles specialist, the son of a Polish footballer who immigrated to Britain before ‘Dom the bomb’ was born. He came through the American university system, having graduated in finance from the University of Virginia. He formed a partnership with a Philippines player Treat Huey, with whom he won three titles and thereby gradually came to the attention of his home nation. Picking a second doubles specialist for this final (after Jamie Murray) would narrow Leon Smith’s singles options, but Inglot’s love of clay may see him make the final four. Anyone with a DVD of the 2004 movie Wimbledon might spot Inglot, as he stood in for Paul Bettany in some tennis-playing scenes.

Dan Evans – the battler from Birmingham won a Challenger-level tournament last week, and played second singles in September’s semi-final against Australia. His work ethic has often been questioned, but the other side of that coin is that he seems to have no nerves and has played some of his best tennis in Davis Cup. One hopes he will view missing out on the final as an incentive to make himself indispensible in the future.

Aljaz Bedene – the second-highest ranked Briton (at 45) is still not allowed to compete because he played a couple of dead rubbers for his native Slovenia, despite living in Britain for the past six years. The International Tennis Federation has taken an inexplicably long time to decide his fate, and has put off a decision until March. He might not have made his debut for Britain in the final even if available, but it looks odd to have a fully fit Briton ranked 45 not playing in Ghent.