Arthur Fery is ready to embrace a new role as leader of Great Britain's Davis Cup team as they look to avoid embarrassment against Ecuador.
Britain take on the South Americans at the Copper Box in London this weekend bidding to book their spot in the final eight for the first time since 2023.
Leon Smith's team were dealt a blow on the eve of the tie with Cameron Norrie, their only remaining experienced singles player in the absence of Jack Draper, ruled out by an arm injury.
Stepping up for Friday's singles, therefore, will be Wimbledon semifinalist Fery and 95th-ranked Toby Samuel, who boast only a single appearance in the competition between them.
Arthur Fery has made just one Davis Cup appearance before this. Photo by Patrick Khachfe/Getty Images for LTA That came a year ago, when Fery made his debut with victory over Poland's Olaf Pieczkowski.
"Leon gave me that trust to play a match in Poland, so that helped me a lot," said Fery, who at the time was ranked down at 227.
"It's been a great year, I've played a lot of matches, gained a lot of experience, which will hopefully also serve me for this Davis Cup tie. I'm really looking forward to it and I have trust in everyone that we're going to be able to get it done."
Fery is now ranked 36th and no longer a little-known quantity thanks to his spectacular run to the last four at Wimbledon as a wild card, which he followed up by reaching his first ATP Tour final in the U.S. last month.
The 24-year-old will start as a substantial favourite against world No. 293 Alvaro Guillen Meza on Friday, while Samuel is also ranked significantly higher than Ecuadorian No. 1 Andres Andrade (ranked world No. 203).
But history shows that such ranking gaps can matter little in the Davis Cup, and Ecuador will hope their greater experience in the competition can be their trump card.
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Smith said: "Obviously it helps to have played even once but you've got to start [somewhere].
"And the great thing is every single one of the players sitting here has had brilliant years. So they're in form and and it's really over to [them to] enjoy that responsibility. Over the years I've done this, I've had plenty of debutants that have done extremely well."