Kettering's Dermot selected for Great Britain's qualifying event

Bailey, Alfie Hewett, Ben Bartram and Dahnon Ward and team captain Martyn Whait will represent Great Britain, with Bartram and Ward set to make their senior debuts in a men’s competition featuring more than 30 teams from across Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia.

Great Britain has a long history of success at the International Tennis Federation’s flagship wheelchair tennis event, winning the men’s World Team Cup title for the first time in 2015 before earning victory again in 2019 after a bronze medal in 2016 and silver medals in 2017 and 2018.

The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the 2020 World Team Cup, while a combination of injury and illness resulted in Great Britain being forced to withdraw from the men’s competition in 2021 and therefore needing to contest the qualification event this year in order to try and earn their place for the World Group event in Portugal in May.

Bailey has been part of the medal-winning Great Britain teams since 2016, when he made his senior World Team Cup debut to become

LTA Colour Holder number 302.

Bailey joined Hewett and Gordon Reid in the gold medal team in 2019 and reunites with Hewett this year, while Reid rests an injury following his and Hewett’s record-breaking ninth successive Grand Slam doubles title at the Australian Open.

British No.3 and Tokyo Paralympian Bailey, who began his 2022 season by beating two seeded players to reach the men’s singles final at the Bolton Indoor ITF 3 tournament last month, said: “We’ve got a good team and it’s the first time we’ve had to qualify, so it will be a new experience and very interesting.

“It’s great to have Ben and Dahnon in the team for their first experiences of the senior men’s event, but for me it’s likely to be one of the first times I’ve played a live singles match at the World Team Cup.

“I think I’ve only played one before so I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

After Great Britain’s most successful World Team Cup to date in 2019, when the men’s, women’s, quad and junior teams all earned top four placings and the squad retuned home with three medals, success for the men’s team in Turkey would ensure a full quota of Great Britain teams across all four championship events in Portugal in May.