TENNIS in DEPTH.

Rafael Nadal plans to dethrone Andy Murray as Queen’s Club champion after confirming he will play in the pre-Wimbledon tournament in London in June.

The world number three from Spain has not played on grass since beating Roger Federer in the 2008 final at the All England Club due to a knee injury.

“Queen’s is a big, important tournament,” said Nadal.

“This year there is even more motivation because I could not defend my titles last year.”

In the Spaniard’s absence last year Murray defeated James Blake to clinch his first grass-court title at the Aegon Championships at Queen’s while Federer beat Andy Roddick to collect his sixth Wimbledon crown.

Nadal added: “No-one was more disappointed than me that I couldn’t play because I love those tournaments.

“It was an amazing feeling to win Queen’s in 2008 and then to fulfil my dream by winning Wimbledon.

“To not defend my Wimbledon title last year was one of the toughest decisions in my career, but this is a new year and now I have the chance to go back to England and to compete on the grass again.”

The Aegon Championships run between 7-13 June.

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Tim Henman has ruled himself out of the running to be Great Britain’s next Davis Cup captain because “it doesn’t feel like the right time”.

Incumbent John Lloyd is considering his future in the role after becoming the first GB captain to oversee five successive defeats when his side lost to Lithuania last weekend.

That defeat has left Great Britain on the verge of dropping into Europe/Africa Zone Group III, the lowest tier of the competition, and prompted calls for change within the team.

Henman, however, has ruled himself out of taking on the captain’s role, although the 35-year-old admitted he would one day like to lead his country.

“Maybe in three years or in 13 years, sometime in the future, I might be interested in being the Davis Cup captain,” the former world number four told the Daily Telegraph.

“But it doesn’t feel like the right time. I’m enjoying my family and my golf – and not having any structure in my life.

“For 28 of the first 33 years of my life tennis was what I did. I wouldn’t change that and I’m sure at some stage I’m going to get more involved and give back to British tennis.

“But at the moment I would not want the commitment or the responsibility of being Davis Cup captain.”

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“Back on the court in Indian Wells today,” Federer wrote on his Facebook page. “Felt great to hit as it was the first hit I had in two-and-a-half weeks.”

And defending champ Nadal is also in positive mood ahead of the year’s first Masters 1000 event, saying his knee will not be a handicap in California.

“I have been training hard for three weeks,” he said. “We have worked during the pre-season to recover the form which I had when I arrived in Australia. I feel strong and my knees do not hurt me – now I just want to compete.

“My main objective, the most immediate goal, is to play well during the American hard court season. I have 1000 points to defend at Indian Wells as the defending champion. But the main idea is to play well.”

The Spaniard is also keen to put himself in contention for the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup after missing the opening round victory over Switzerland, which Federer also skipped.

“The next elimination stage in France will be very hard and to get through it we need to all be at 100%. I would like to be there,” said Nadal.

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Andy Murray has been drawn in the same half as World No. 1 Roger Federer in the draw for this year’s Indian Wells tournament.

The Scot has a bye in the first round and therefore will play either Robby Ginepri or Andreas Seppi in the second round.

Murray’s likely path to the title is as follows:

R1: Bye

R2: Andreas Seppi

R3: Igor Andreev

R4: David Ferrer

QF: Robin Soderling

SF: Roger Federer

F: Rafael Nadal

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Roger Federer has confirmed that he has been given the green light to commence training in anticipation of his return to tennis at this week’s ATP event at Indian Wells. How fit will he be after a long lay-off is anybody’s guess. There still remains the possibility that he might not play.

After a weekend of high drama at the Davis Cup tie in Belgrade, Novak Djokovic cannot be expected to be a factor at Indian Wells. Rafael Nadal is the defending champion, he needs a win to keep his point total and to gain some confidence, but the surface is not his best.

Andy Murray has been experimenting with his game, and the experiment hasn’t worked so far. He should be fresh having only played 27 sets of tennis in 2010, but unless he can bring more aggression into his game he will remain as a runner-up.

Marin Cilic is ready to move into the top group this year, and Indian Wells might be the place where he will shine. He likes the hard surface, the three set matches and the California weather.

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Novak Djokovic outlasted big John Isner in five sets on Sunday to lift Serbia past the United States and into the 2010 Davis Cup quarterfinals.

The Serbs wound up with a 3-2 victory in the best-of-five showdown at Belgrade Arena.

The world No. 2 Djokovic got everything he could handle from the 6-foot-9 Isner in the first reverse singles rubber, as the former Australian Open champion barely snuck out a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6-9), 6-4 decision on the Americans’ least-favorite surface, red clay. The Djokovic win gave the hosts an insurmountable 3-1 lead.

“Isner fought like crazy, and his serve was unbelievable,” Djokovic said of the 20th-ranked American. “His serves are coming like from the fourth floor, and I had no idea where they would go.”

Djokovic needed six match points, but finally prevailed in 4 hours, 16 minutes against Isner, who made his Davis Cup debut with a singles loss against Viktor Troicki here on Friday and was a doubles winner on Saturday.

“Four hours is a lot of tennis, and I’m proud how I played,” Isner said after succumbing to Djokovic.

In Sunday’s dead rubber, Sam Querrey cruised past Troicki 7-5, 6-2.

The Serbs, who will appear in their first-ever Davis Cup quarterfinal, will battle Croatia in July.

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David Nalbandian sealed a memorable 3-2 win for Argentina in the final rubber of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group first round tie in Stockholm.

Nalbandian, playing in his first Davis Cup singles match since the Final in 2008, produced an assured performance to defeat Sweden’s Andreas Vinciguerra 75 63 46 64 in two hours, 35 minutes.

Nalbandian, who also teamed up Horacio Zeballos to win the doubles rubber on Saturday, only arrived in Stockholm on Thursday, after initially ruling himself out of the tie due to injury.

Earlier on Sunday, Robin Soderling levelled the score in Stockholm with a straight sets victory over Leonardo Mayer in the first of the reverse singles. The world No. 7 did just enough in each set to get past world No. 73 Mayer 75 76(5) 75 in just over two and a half hours.

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