Murray can turn jeers to cheers

Andy Murray listens to a question form the media during press conference for the Davis Cup Final tennis match between Belgium and Britain. Photo: Alastair Grant

Andy Murray listens to a question form the media during press conference for the Davis Cup Final tennis match between Belgium and Britain. Photo: Alastair Grant

Published Nov 27, 2015

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London - Of all the 126 tennis nations who annually contest the Davis Cup, none attracts the same scorn and fascination as Great Britain.

Host to the world’s most prestigious tournament, with a governing body that often appears clueless about how to spend the lavish profits it generates, GB is shorthand for underachievement in the sport.

Yet, largely due to the efforts of one family from a remote outpost, it now stands on the brink of once again winning the event it co-founded with the United States 115 years ago.

Victory in the Davis Cup final will not cure the deep-seated ills of British tennis, or suddenly make it a powerhouse in a sport where the men’s top 100 is populated by players from 39 different countries.

Yet it will be a worthy triumph for a small group of individuals, skillfully managed and prepared, and led on court by one outstanding individual. Think of Gareth Bale’s commitment and contribution to the Wales football team, multiply it several times and you get close to what Andy Murray has done in the Davis Cup.

He has not achieved it entirely alone, and if Londoner James Ward had not beaten John Isner in the first round against the States, probably none of this would have happened.

Yet it has been Murray who has, self-evidently, been at the front in beating an authentically tough path to the final against the three other Grand Slam nations.

His supporting partner this time, apart from brother Jamie, will be world No 100 Kyle Edmund, who today becomes the youngest player to make his debut in a final since 2002.

Although a rare product of the LTA system, Edmund has it in common with many other players that he is the child of parents who moved to the country he represents.

His father Steven was born in Maesteg, South Wales, but emigrated as a child to South Africa, where he met his wife Denise.

They came to Yorkshire when Kyle was a baby, set up an IT business and have produced a son with an unusually mature temperament who supports Liverpool and loves cars - and ought to have a very decent top 100 tennis career ahead of him.

But the outcome of this final should still rest with Murray, whose efforts in the competition encompass his intriguing contradictions.

He is the demanding individual sportsman who relishes being part of a team, the nationalist-leaning Scot who remains so proud to be British, the thoughtful character off the court who sometimes acts like a snarling oaf upon it.

While it could be reasonably asked if British tennis deserves him, he certainly deserves to win a Davis Cup title for GB, as his main rivals Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have for their countries.

If anyone is fortunate to have got to the final this year it is the Belgians, who came through their first round against Switzerland largely because Federer and Stan Wawrinka chose to sit it out.

They were blessed that Canada’s Milos Raonic was injured just before their quarter-final and then managed to get past Argentina’s clay-court experts on a home hard court in the semi-final.

It has still been a fine effort to get here and, like GB, they have a cohesive team spirit. Their sense of purpose has only been added to by the difficult times the country is experiencing on an infinitely more significant level.

On the face of it, this could be a more formulaic match than Britain’s last three.

There was Ward’s incredible five-set win against the USA in March, Murray’s titanic effort against France that left him weeping with mental exhaustion, and the nerve-shredding pivotal doubles against Australia.

Here it ought to be 1-1 by tonight and 2-1 after what should, in theory, be a comfortable doubles win.

Victory is due to be achieved on Sunday afternoon if Murray performs to type against David Goffin. But there is plenty that could go wrong, which prevents this being a foregone conclusion. Murray arrives off the back of two defeats at the O2 Arena, he could be tired by Sunday and he was not helped by yesterday’s draw that puts him out second, giving less time for recovery.

Goffin is a good enough player to get inspired and emerge the hero, even though he was pummelled by the Scot in the Paris Masters recently.

As in football, Belgium produce more than their share of unusual talent in tennis and Goffin is among that, if not quite in the league of Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.

And not even Murray will have experienced the kind of pulsating and partisan atmosphere likely to be generated inside the Flanders Expo, where the Belgians have had to shoehorn in 13,000 spectators beneath a low roof.

It is a building as functional and ugly as the city on whose outskirts it lies is elegant. The Belgians wanted to stage the match at Antwerp’s more accommodating Sports-paleis, only to find that it was booked by Madonna.

Up to 5 000 British fans are expected to defy security worries and attend over the three days, hoping to see a repeat of the Davis Cup success in 1936 that was fashioned by Fred Perry. As then, these are heady times that should be enjoyed while they last.

@Mike_Dickson_DM

Daily Mail

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