DAVIS CUP FROM THE QUEENS CLUB, THE MURRAY BROTHERS ROCK THE HOUSE

Written by: Staff on 18th July 2015

DAVIS CUP FROM THE QUEENS CLUB, THE MURRAY BROTHERS ROCK THE HOUSE

Jamie Murray celebrates after beating Nicolas Mahut and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France with his brother Andy in a doubles clash during a quarter-final Davis Cup tennis match at the Queens Club in London, Britain, 18 July 2015. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

Pimms v Champagne In The Doubles Duel by Ros Satar.

A scorching day, for the crowd a dream pairing of the Murray brothers, but would it be Pimms v Champagne on Doubles Day at the Davis Cup quarter-final?

Throughout the whole morning, debate had been ranging – on Twitter, in media rooms, on buses, heavens probably between ponies and traps on the way to Barons Court.

Andy had to play was one school of thought. Put Andy with Dom Inglot was another. Play Jamie – after all he was the Wimbledon men’s doubles runner up.

At a little after 12pm, the announcement was made – Murrays-squared versus Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nicolas Mahut. A quick peruse of the doubles activity showed that in contracts to the French playing together four times, Andy and Jamie’s doubles pairings went on for three pages…. Three!

Perhaps doubles connoisseurs would be troubled by the British pairing. Brothers they might be, but as Jamie joked in a Davis Cup video testing how well the brothers knew each other, he offers is opinion about strategy… but Andy is a veritable terrier and will chasing everything down – and we do mean everything.

So who knew that in the first set at least, it would be British No. 1, World No. 3 Andy Murray who would be the weakest link. Losing his serve in the first game was not an ideal start. Thankfully he would hold the next time around, but for a lot of that set, we would hold our breath whenever the ball came his way, as Jamie dominated around the court and at the net.

With the French sealing the first set, and more Tricolor banners flying that that scene in One More Day in Les Miserables, Andy developed what could only b described as a David Ferrer-esque growl as the quartet played you-overhead, no YOU-overhead before the growl accompanied a far more aggressive put-away.

The crowd yesterday was boisterous, if not pacing themselves for two potential five-setters. Today they were kicked up more than a notch, for what was likely to be the most key match.

The Brit contingent were rewarded when finally their boys earned their first break point of the match, roaring out the sound of the French contingent as they got their noses ahead at last, holding on to the advantage to level things up.

The court has had scant time to recover since Queens for the start of this tie – don’t forget it also has to be made available to practice in the week before. Tsonga and Murray both took painful tumbles and Murray tweaked his groin again, toppling like a stricken oak. A lengthy and painful looking medical timeout had him back on his feet to keep in contention.

The start of the third saw the teams whacking out service holds to love and staying pretty much toe-to-toe (times two?) to take us into a tie-break. On a day where the word ‘decisive’ was being bandied about like the flags being waved all over, mini-breaks were traded a couple of times before the Brits got the all important one at set point.

Was it all over, bat the shouting, the chanting and the dodgy DJ intermission music? One would have to think so, as the French went off the brew rather rapidly as GB built up a 3-0 lead. So standing on the stairwell sharing my live-score screen with president of the French Tennis Federation, Jean Gaschassin was a touch surreal, especially as the Brits opened up a double break cushion.

Tsonga clawed back one game, and the French battled gamely on even earn a break point as Britain served for the match. It was the briefest of flag waving flurries as a Jamie Murray winner puts the Brits into a 2-1 lead going into the final day.

Britain’s Andy Murray and brother Jamie Murray (top of picture) play against Nicolas Mahut and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France during a quarter-final Davis Cup tennis match at the Queens Club in London, Britain, 18 July 2015. EPA/ANDY RAIN

It was his first loss in doubles in the Davis Cup, and Tsonga summed it up: “I think it was a lot of quality on court today. We did our job, we gave the best but in front of us we had a good team. The two brothers are good and they show today that they [can] both do some good matches.”

Jamie praised the crowd, who really gave as good as they got against the French cheering section today.

“I think the crowd were great from first to the last point. Obviously that tie-break proved critical. I don’t really even remember much about it to be honest other than Andy getting that serve back and Mahut diving, and turning round and seeing Andy six feet off the ground. But you know, that’s the thing [about] home support – it’s brilliant to have it and I think as long as we’re playing home ties, everyone that’s coming to watch us should be there and cheering as loud as they can and trying to help the players, because it does really help us to perform as best we possibly can.”

For a typically understated Andy Murray though, it was soon to be business as usual.

He said: “[I’ve] got to make sure tonight conserve as much energy as possible, go back, recover properly. Get a good night’s sleep and hopefully come out tomorrow and feel good when I get up. Obviously right now after that match, it’s hard not to feel good.

“But I’ve also played matches where you do have a massive high, a massive adrenalin rush during the match and in the evening you can feel quite fatigued as well. I’ve been through that before. Just deal with whatever cards I’m dealt tomorrow when I wake up and hopefully play a good match.”

Now can we start listening to our Les Mis soundtrack? Do you hear the people sing…

Topics: Andy Murray, Atp, Bnp Paribas, Davis Cup, global chick, Jamie Murray, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, London, Murray Brothers, Nicolas Mahut, Queen's Club, Ros Satar, Sports, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

July 18, 2015 at 1:47 pm

-@DavisCup FROM THE #QueensClub, THE #MurrayBrothers ROCK THE HOUSE- http://t.co/Yq4cV3ygr1 @jamie_murray @andy_murray #tennis #DavisCup
maye4life says:

July 18, 2015 at 2:24 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: -@DavisCup FROM THE #QueensClub, THE #MurrayBrothers ROCK THE HOUSE- http://t.co/Yq4cV3ygr1 @jamie_murray @andy_murray #t…
MichelleCordin4 says:

July 18, 2015 at 3:14 pm

RT @TennisNewsOne: DAVIS CUP FROM THE QUEENS CLUB, THE MURRAY BROTHERS ROCK THE HOUSE http://t.co/xl2s8Py8G2 #tennis