Andy Murray pulled out of Britain's Davis Cup team for next week's World Group match against Argentina because of a knee injury.
Murray, who dropped from ninth to 12th in the ATP rankings after losing to eventual finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round of the Australian Open, is Britain's top player.
"Following the intensive offseason training, my right knee started to act up again when I returned from Australia," Murray said on his Web site. "We had a scan done this week and following discussions with my team, we have decided that it is better not to play in the Davis Cup tie against Argentina."
PHOTO: AP
Britain will face Argentina on outdoor clay in Buenos Aires from Feb. 8 to Feb.10.
Murray said the stress of playing on different surfaces was likely to aggravate the injury.
"Since returning from Australia, my knee is still bothering me," he said. "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 could increase the chances of further injury, set me back even more, and I don't want to take that risk."
Murray's place on the team will be taken by Ross Hutchins. The other members of the team are Jamie Baker, Alex Bogdanovic and Murray's brother, Jamie.
"Obviously, we're all hugely disappointed that Andy won't be joining us out here in South America but these things happen," Britain captain John Lloyd said.
"Next week's tie will be a massive challenge for us now that we are without our No. 1 player but we will go there and give it everything we've got," Lloyd said.
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