Great Britain’s Andy Murray (left) and Jamie Murray practise ahead of their Davis Cup Final against Belgium at the Flanders Expo in Ghent, Belgium, yesterday. (Reuters)
DPA/Ghent, Belgium
Britain begin the final chapter of a quest for the nation’s first Davis Cup title in more than three-quarters of a century under tight security as Andy Murray leads the side into tomorrow’s final against Belgium.
With the capital and EU centre Brussels still under a maximum terror alert in the wake of the Paris attacks, this provincial city 70 kilometres away remains on tense, but stable, footing.
The tie has huge significance for both nations, with Britain last winning the Cup in 1936 with Fred Perry onside and Belgium looking for a first trophy after last reaching the final in 1904 - and losing 5-0 to Britain at Wimbledon.
The nations are playing for a 12th time, but for only the second time since 1963; Belgium won the last meeting 4-1 in Europe/Africa Zone Group I in Glasgow in 2012.
Murray, team leader for a side which also includes James Ward, Dominik Inglot, Kyle Edmunds and Jamie Murray, on Tuesday could not hide his enthusiasm despite the unusual conditions surrounding the competition.
“It would be extremely significant. To win the biggest team competition in tennis, having beat the other three Grand Slam nations (US, Australia and France) would be a huge victory for everyone in the team,” said the world number two.
“It would be well-deserved, as well. It’s taken a lot of time and hard work from many of the players, many of the staff, coaches, physios, everyone.
“This is a bit different than a grand slam or a big competition. The last five years has been a progression from a pretty low place in world tennis to playing for the biggest team competition. It would be big for everyone involved, for sure.”
Murray will need to win both of his singles points to give the visitors any chance of success on the clay laid down by organisers in the Flemish Expo hall where 13,000 fans per day will be cheering the home side after going through security procedures which include no bags at all in the stadium.
Number 16 David Goffin, Steve Darcis, Kimmer Coppejans and Ruben Bemelmans comprise the home side bidding to become the 15th nation to lift the trophy.
Despite his well-documented aversion to clay, Murray said the Ghent court surface quite suitable: “The court’s good. I only practiced once on it so far (on Monday) evening.”
British captain Leon Smith said his men have time to get used to the indoor dirt. “We only had yesterday on court with a good day of practise. The court seems pretty good in the early stages.
“We’ll see how it holds up over eight, nine, 10 hours a day of practice. Hopefully it will be good.
“The most important thing is that we’re here now, we’re practising. Our main focus, as it should be, is now making sure all the players are ready to do their very, very best at the weekend.”
Belgium is equally determined to make its own tennis history and deny Britain.
“For us it’s a huge event, for Belgium it’s important in sports in general, not only in tennis,” said captain Johann van Kerck. “I think it’s a really good team effort. I think in Belgium everybody appreciates that.
“We’ll try to go one step further, I think the whole country will be behind us and we’ll try to keep the trophy here.”
Darcis, who was injured a month ago in Sweden, is now fit again.
“I feel really good now, I ended the season very early so I could rest well,” he said. “I’ve been practicing on clay for three weeks now.”
Goffin, who beat Murray last spring in Rome in their only clay match but who lost to the Brit this month at Paris Bercy, added: “I just took some days off after Paris. We’ve trained really good here in Belgium.
“It’s always a good thing to practice all together. The spirit of the team is always good. So after Bercy and after the season end, it was easy to find the motivation to play on clay all together.”
The draw for the rubbers will be made today.
