Henman is set a Cup deadline

Tim Henman has been given until the weekend to prove his fitness before Britain's bid to retain their place in the Davis Cup world group.

Britain must defeat Thailand in the match which begins in Birmingham on 20 September but Henman is having treatment twice a day on his injured right shoulder and team captain Roger Taylor will make a final decision over the world No5 early next week.

Henman wants to play some part in the tie but is unlikely to be fit enough to offer more than support on court in the doubles with Greg Rusedski.

Arvind Palmar, ranked 192 in the world, has been recalled after playing in the infamous Davis Cup defeat by Ecuador at Wimbledon two years ago. He lost his singles match and has taken a long time to mentally recover from that setback.

The singles players against Thailand are likely to be Rusedski and Martin Lee, who is world-ranked No163.