Jamie Murray is part of the Great Britain team competing in the inaugural Davis Cup finals and, in his latest BBC Sport column from Madrid, talks about the controversial new format, representing his country again alongside brother Andy, plus how Real Madrid tours, pool and ‘cornhole’ games have fostered team spirit.

Everyone in tennis was in agreement that the Davis Cup needed to change.

The top players weren’t able to commit to the event, not because they didn’t want to, or because they didn’t like the Davis Cup, it was just because it took so much time out of their schedule during the year.

If you got to the final it could be eight weeks in your year and with the fixtures always played right after the Grand Slams, ATP Finals or other big events, it meant the ties didn’t come at the right time of the calendar.

That is a shame because it is amazing event and, I think, when a large majority of tennis players look back on their careers, the matches they will remember will be the Davis Cup matches because they stir up the most emotion and have been played in front of cracking atmospheres. I’ll certainly remember them the most anyway.

• Live scores and schedules
• How to follow the Davis Cup

But the ITF had to make a change, they have made a change, some people don’t like it and some people do. But this is the first year since Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique and his Kosmos group got involved so we have to see how it goes.

From a player’s perspective, the format is pretty cool and it is fun to be here as a team along with 17 others, it is cool to see all the players together playing for their country and wearing their national colours.

There are a lot of good teams here, I know not all the top players in the world are playing, some didn’t qualify and a couple chose not to, but there are a lot of great teams and there should be a lot of great tennis this week.

It doesn’t surprise me that a lot of the top players are here, first and foremost because players love representing their countries, but also because there has been a huge injection of cash from Kosmos. There are definitely financial incentives for guys to come and play here.

I always thought 95% of the players would play if they qualified, why wouldn’t you? Financially it makes sense and you have the prestige of playing in the Davis Cup.

Most of all it is a fun week, you’re here with your friends, you’re part of a team.

‘We hope the stadiums will be packed’

There has been some concern about the size of the crowds and suggestions a few ties at the Caja Magica will be far from sold out.

I hope people do come out and support the event because it has the potential to be a great event.

It’s like the football World Cup, a lot of those matches aren’t necessarily glamour matches and the stadiums aren’t full.

I’m sure it’ll be the same here but for the real big matches we hope the stadiums will be packed and provide a great atmosphere which showcase potentially the best tournament in tennis.

I genuinely don’t how the fans will react and whether the crowds will improve as the tournament moves through the week and develops over the next few years.

Unless you’re Spanish, or you’re living here in Madrid, there is a considerable cost to come for potentially a week, but I understand that a fair few Brits will be here for our matches against the Netherlands on Wednesday and Kazakhstan on Thursday.

Madrid has a Masters tournament in May where you get the best 50 men and best 50 women competing so now the city has got a new event with not all the top 50 competing, and without the women, so it might not be as attractive for them to come and watch because they’ve already seen tennis a few months earlier.

I hope not but we will have to wait and see then go from there.

But as far as the event goes – the organisation, logistics and set-up – it has been great.

• What the new format looks like

‘I’m happy to be representing Britain again with my brother’

Of course, my younger brother Andy is part of Great Britain team again, only 10 months after he had a major hip operation which left him unsure whether he’d play again.

It is great to have him back playing and fit and healthy and committed to playing for Great Britain in the Davis Cup – and it boosts our chances in the competition.

It will be a lot of tennis for him in the next five days if we are to go through the tournament to the final, which will mean playing every day.

We’re always going to be a more dangerous team with him playing and if he performs to the level that we all know he is capable of then we have a great chance of going far.

Truthfully I’d never thought about whether we’d play together again in the Davis Cup during his injury struggles, but I know he loves playing and being part of a team so I’m happy he is back.

For us the motivation is playing for our country and getting together with a great team.

• Murray cautious of heavy schedule

‘The tourists at Real Madrid didn’t know what was happening!’

The British squad came out to Madrid last Wednesday and Leon Smith, our Davis Cup captain, has done a great job of creating a great team spirit among the team, not just the five players but all the support staff as well.

Leon makes sure when we turn up that we have a good, fun week and everybody enjoys it regardless of what the result is and that’s why I think we’ve had a lot of success in recent years.

He makes it fun for the players to come because he understands it can be an effort for the guys to play with another week out of the schedule.

We’ve done a few cool things around the city and a couple of days ago we went to the Santiago Bernabeu – Real Madrid’s stadium – that was great fun.

It is a nice tour – they’ve won everything haven’t they!

We saw the Ballon d’Ors, the Golden Boots, shirts of players from Alfredo di Stefano and Juanito to Ronaldo and Raul, we went into the dugouts and stood on the side of the pitch.

The other notable part of the tour was that we made Neal Skupski do his Davis Cup rookie speech in the Real Madrid press room!

He was supposed to do it at the official team dinner but it wasn’t possible so we got him unannounced in the press room.

He did the usual speech – thanking Leon for selecting him, what a great honour it was representing Britain, saying he was looking forward to playing – but the big difference was the location and that there were also a few tourists watching who didn’t know what was going on. No pressure!

We’ve also been having fun with a pool competition, we had the semi-finals and final on Tuesday night. Leon beat me and Andy – he hasn’t shut up about that – so I know he’s in the semi-finals.

The most fun activity is cornhole – an American game where you have a wooden board with a hole in the middle and you have to try and throw a bag in there – because it is mass participation and we have good fun.

I’m sure other sports teams do it but all of these activities have been a good way for team bonding and build our camaraderie going into the tournament.

Let’s hope we can go all the way to Sunday’s final!

Jamie Murray was speaking to BBC Sport’s Jonathan Jurejko in Madrid.

Andy Murray says he needs to be cautious about his workload at the revamped Davis Cup finals with the potential for Great Britain to play five ties in five days.

Murray, 32, is part of a British team that plays the Netherlands on Wednesday and Kazakhstan on Thursday.

If they progress through the group they will play a quarter-final tie on Friday before potential semi-final and final ties at the weekend.

“I need to think long term,” said Murray, who had hip surgery in January.

The former world number one has not completely ruled out playing doubles in Madrid, however, as 18 nations contest a football-style knockout tournament for the first time to determine the Davis Cup champions.

• France survive scare to beat Japan
• Holders Croatia suffer defeat by Russia
• How the new format will look

Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique has overseen the transformation of the 119-year-old competition into a season-ending finals, which has led to heavy criticism from some.

While some ATP players have questioned the involvement of a footballer in the dismantling of a tennis tradition, Murray said he was “open to change” and urged everyone to give the new format a chance.

The three-time Grand Slam champion is one of three singles players in the British team alongside Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund, while Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski are the doubles specialists.

The Murray brothers have teamed up together to great success in the past, of course, notably during Britain’s run to the the Davis Cup title in 2015.

“The singles and doubles – that would depend on the situation. Ideally I would want to avoid that,” Murray told BBC Sport.

“Playing five matches in five days, best of three sets, that’s obviously something we do regularly on the tour and I did it in Antwerp and felt OK at the end of that.

“If I had been playing doubles the same day as some of those singles matches in Antwerp, I would have really struggled the following day.

“So we just need to be mindful of that and think a little bit long term in this event.”

Murray is ranked 126th in the world, behind 42nd-ranked Evans and 69th-ranked Edmund, meaning he will play as Britain’s number two and leaving him facing the weaker singles player in the opposing team.

• Live scores, schedule and results
• Alerts: Get tennis news sent to your phone

Brits ‘let it go’ as they drop in Frozen lyrics

The British squad, led by captain Leon Smith, arrived in the Spanish capital on Wednesday to continue their preparations and build camaraderie.

And they showed the spirit they have fostered at a news conference during which the players dropped lines from Disney movie Frozen into their answers.

When asked about the new format, Andy Murray starting by saying detractors “need to let it go”, before Edmund added “fear will be the enemy” of the British team.

Evans continued the fun by saying he “can’t hold it back anymore” and Skupski rounded off the questions by urging the team to “be the players we always have to be”.

Only Jamie Murray did not complete his task, leaving Evans jokingly shouting the Scot’s line – “the cold never bothered you anyway” – as Murray did a television interview.

Edmund in line for new coach

Edmund, 24, is set to announce Argentine Franco Davin, who was with Juan Martin del Potro when he won the 2009 US Open, as his new coach.

The former British number one told BBC Sport they will train in Miami after the Davis Cup, with a view to working together next season.

Edmund has been without a coach since September, when Mark Hilton brought their partnership to a close.

“You never say ‘I’m definitely going long term with him’ because you have got to see how it goes. So we always say you have a bit of a trial, but you always look for it long term,” Edmund said.

“With the experience he brings, and the quality, I’m excited to get going.”

French pair Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert came from behind to win a deciding doubles tie in a 2-1 victory over Japan at the Davis Cup finals.

The Australian Open champions beat Ben McLachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-5 in a dramatic third set.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Uchiyama 6-2 6-1 in the opening singles match before world number 10 Gael Monfils lost 7-5 6-2 to Yoshihito Nishioka.

Last year’s runners-up France take on Serbia on Thursday.

• Innovation or sacrilege? What you need to know about the new Davis Cup

On a more positive note for Japan, leading singles player Kei Nishikori, who was ranked eighth in the world in October when he underwent surgery on his right elbow, posted a video of himself on social media holding a racquet “for the first time” since picking up the injury.

Elsewhere in Group E, the Netherlands – Great Britain’s opponents on Wednesday – lost 2-1 to Kazakhstan after Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer were beaten 6-4 7-6 (7-2) in the deciding doubles match by Alexander Bublik and Mikhail Kukushkin.

Haase, ranked 163rd in the world, had earlier come from behind to beat Bublik 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-5) in his singles match after Dutch compatriot Botic van de Zandschulp lost 6-2 6-2 to Kukushkin.

And in Group C, Argentina beat Chile 2-0 thanks to victories from Guido Pella and Diego Schwartzman in both singles matches.

Pella, ranked 25th in the world, beat Nicolas Jarry 6-4 6-3 in the opening match of the day on centre court before Schwartzman’s 6-2 6-2 win over Cristian Garin.

“It’s the end of the season but I think I played one of the best matches for sure of the year, maybe in my career,” said Schwartzman. “I think Guido [Pella] helped me a lot to be more confident and I played unreal tennis.”

• Live scores, schedule and results
• Alerts: Get tennis news sent to your phone

The new format

Eighteen nations are split into six groups of three, with the group winners and two best-placed runners-up progressing to the quarter-finals.

The two semi-finals will be played on Saturday, 23 November with the two winners going through to the final on Sunday, 24 November.

Schedule – who plays when?

Group stage: Monday, 18 November – Thursday, 21 November

Quarter-finals: Thursday, 21 November – Friday, 22 November

Semi-finals: Saturday, 23 November

Final: Sunday, 24 November

Croatia began the defence of their Davis Cup title with a 3-0 defeat by Group B rivals Russia as the new-look tournament got under way in Madrid.

Borna Gojo was beaten 6-3 6-3 by Andrey Rublev and Borna Coric went down 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-4 to Karen Khachanov before the Russian pair combined to win the final doubles match.

Russia face Spain on Tuesday.

In Group F, Canada’s Vasek Pospisil and Denis Shapovalov both won as they secured a 2-1 win over Italy.

World number 150 Pospisil beat world number 12 Fabio Fognini 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 and Shapovalov battled past Matteo Berrettini, fresh from his ATP Finals debut, 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-5). The Italian pair then defeated the Canadian duo in the final doubles contest.

And in Group D, Steve Darcis and David Goffin both won their singles matches as Belgium recorded a 2-1 win over Colombia.

The new format

Eighteen nations are split into six groups of three, with the group winners and two best-placed runners-up progressing to the quarter-finals.

The two semi-finals will be played on Saturday, 23 November with the two winners going through to the final on Sunday, 24 November.

Schedule – who plays when?

Group stage: Monday, 18 November – Thursday, 21 November

Quarter-finals: Thursday, 21 November – Friday, 22 November

Semi-finals: Saturday, 23 November

Final: Sunday, 24 November

“Sometimes things have to change, or they have the risk to die,” was Gerard Pique’s blunt reasoning for the controversial reform of the Davis Cup.

The Barcelona footballer has overseen the transformation of the 119-year-old competition into a season-ending finals featuring 18 nations, which starts in Madrid on Monday.

Britain have been given a wildcard and their five-man squad, consisting of Andy Murray, Dan Evans, Kyle Edmund, Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski, face the Netherlands and Kazakhstan in what is a favourable group for the 2015 winners.

Swiss great Roger Federer will not play after his nation failed to qualify, while some ATP players have questioned the involvement of a footballer in the dismantling of a tennis tradition.

“We’re getting run by a Spanish football player. That’s like me coming out and making changes to the Champions League,” Australia captain Lleyton Hewitt said earlier this year.

Britain’s Andy Murray was more diplomatic, saying he was “open to change” and urging everyone to give the new format “a chance”.

• Give new Davis Cup format a chance – Murray
• Live scores, schedule and results
• Alerts: Get tennis news sent to your phone

‘Change was necessary’ – why the Davis Cup has been revamped

The Davis Cup is one of the world’s largest international team competitions, with 132 nations taking part in 2018.

Between 1981 and 2018, 16 nations competed in the World Group in a straight knockout, with the remaining countries divided into three regional zones.

It was played in February, April, September and November at home and away venues, with each World Group tie played over three days in a best-of-five tie of five-set matches.

However, an increasing number of top players have skipped matches in recent years to ease their schedule.

That led to controversial proposals to revamp the tournament and turn it into a season-ending 18-team event, as part of a 25-year £2.15bn plan funded by the Kosmos investment group fronted by Pique.

“Change was necessary,” said former British number one Tim Henman.

“Top players were not playing and you could understand the reality that if you were going to get to the finals, it was going to take up eight weeks of your year.

“It can be a struggle physically and geographically. Top players were playing less and less, and so they had to take action.”

All roads lead to Madrid – what’s changed?

Whether to back the plans, or stick with the previous format, was put to the vote at the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) annual general meeting in August 2018.

A two-thirds majority among the 140 nations was needed and 71% backed the proposals.

At the reformed event, matches will be played over the best of three sets in a World Cup-style tournament to determine the champions.

The finals – to be staged on hard courts at the Caja Magica in Madrid – will be a round-robin format going into a knockout phase, with ties consisting of two singles and one doubles rubber.

The 18 nations are split into six groups of three, with the group winners and two best-placed runners-up progressing to the quarter-finals.

The two semi-finals will be played on Saturday, 23 November with the two winners going through to the final on Sunday, 24 November.

Murray, who was instrumental in Britain lifting the Davis Cup in 2015, has expressed some doubts about the new-look finals and says he will pass judgement once the tournament is over.

The former world number one is particularly concerned the Madrid finals will be devoid of the tribal and boisterous atmosphere for which the home-and-away format was renowned.

“I’m all for trying change if something isn’t working and I’m willing to see how it goes, and excited to see how it goes,” Murray told BBC Sport.

“The one thing I loved about the Davis Cup before was the atmosphere you played the matches in and the home and away element. They are some of the best atmospheres I’ve played in and I’ll always remember them.

“I don’t think that will be replicated in Madrid but having all the players there competing for their countries in one place will be a unique experience.”

No Federer or Medvedev – who is playing?

Following the passing of the new proposals in August 2018, 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash said organisers were “fooling themselves” if they thought the world’s best players would turn up for a team tournament at the end of an already energy-sapping year.

Nevertheless there are plenty of big names set to play with 11 of the world’s 20 best singles players competing, including Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Spain’s Rafael Nadal, along with Britain’s three-time Grand Slam champion Murray.

Swiss great Federer will not be playing in Madrid after his nation was not given a wildcard, although that appears to be as a result of the 20-time Grand Slam champion seemingly not seeing eye-to-eye with Pique over the revamp.

Federer was reported by Swiss media to have said it was “strange” to see a footballer “come into our world”, disdainfully adding the Davis Cup should not “become the Pique Cup”.

German world number seven Alexander Zverev was clear from the outset that he would not compete and has instead decided to play in an exhibition match against Federer – whose management company he is signed to – in Mexico.

“I don’t think the format is Davis Cup any more. Davis Cup is home-and-away ties, the whole atmosphere, playing over three days and five sets, playing those tough matches,” Zverev said.

“Playing at one week, at one venue, deciding it all, is not the Davis Cup. I hope people realise the Davis Cup is more than just money; it’s history.”

Other notable absentees are Austrian world number four Dominic Thiem and Greek world number six Stefanos Tsitsipas as a result of their nations not qualifying or being given wildcards, while Russia’s US Open finalist Daniil Medvedev pulled out at the weekend citing fatigue after a long season.

How does the ATP Cup affect the Davis Cup?

What many onlookers from inside and outside tennis are struggling to fathom is why another national team knockout competition is taking place six weeks after the Davis Cup in January.

Created by the ATP, the 24-nation event dangles the carrot of 750 ranking points and a prize pot of 22m Australian dollars (£11.6m) for the world’s best players.

That will take place in Australia at the start of January, with another benefit for the players being it will act as a warm-up event for the Australian Open later in the month.

But the creation of two separate, but very similar, events at either end of what is already a long, gruelling season has left some players having to make tough choices.

Pique says he “doesn’t know” if tennis will be able to accommodate both events over the longer term, saying he remains open to dialogue with the men’s tour about amalgamating the two competitions.

“History says both events will happen,” the 32-year-old footballer told the Observer.

“But I have always said our idea is to open the door with the ATP to arrive at a deal. I think that this is the logical step for the future.”

Schedule – who plays when?

Group stage: Monday, 18 November – Thursday, 21 November

Quarter-finals: Thursday, 21 November – Friday, 22 November

Semi-finals: Saturday, 23 November

Final: Sunday, 24 November