DAVIS CUP TENNIS, GREAT BRITAIN IS PLAYING THE BELGIANS IN GHENT FOR THE FINALS OF THE DAVIS CUP….. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE JOURNEY BY GLOBAL CHICK

Written by: on 25th November 2015
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DAVIS CUP TENNIS, GREAT BRITAIN IS PLAYING THE BELGIANS IN GHENT FOR THE FINALS OF THE DAVIS CUP..... IT'S ALL ABOUT THE JOURNEY BY GLOBAL CHICK  |

Of what journey do I speak? Take your pick. The journey through a long and grueling year on the tennis tour, culminating in the World Cup of Tennis, the Davis Cup final between Belgium and Great Britain, the traipsing through peak commuting hour apologetically mumbling past people, laden like a pack horse with laptop back and wheelie case, or the journey we find ourselves on after the terrorist atrocities in Paris a couple of weeks ago, with the knock on effects still in evidence.

 

While it is no doubt a small sign of defiance that people do pick themselves up and carry on with life, it still felt better to switch to travelling on Eurostar via Lille. Little did I know I was on the Disneyland Express. Let’s just be happy I can charge my ipod while listening to it to drown out excited squealing about seeing [please insert your favourite Disney character here].

Photo by Global Chick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the draw on Thursday, there is still a lot of speculation as to who Aegon GB captain Leon Smith will pick. For his consideration – there is James Ward, for many years a Davis Cup and has really come out with some outstanding results when chips were down (that’s fries, to you). But coming up on the rails is Kyle Edmund – recently a Challenger winner on clay in South America, and actually has the best clay record of the potential British No. 2s who travelled out with the team. Smith can substitute his nominated line-up up to an hour before the draw.

 

Despite his best run at Wimbledon earlier this year and cracking the Top 100 for the first time in his career, Ward has seen a downturn in his fortunes, and he knows that his place in the team is now dependent on how the training sessions go for the squad in the somewhat draughty Flanders Expo Arena.

 

Ward said, in the pre-draw press conference: “Obviously everyone wants to play in such a big competition, obviously the Final. But, you know, it’s been a big team effort for years, as Andy said. It’s not just about this year, it’s been about the last four, five years. Many different players have played a big part in that.

 

“We’ll all work together as a team and fight for the best result for all of us.”

Photo by Global Chick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those sentiments were echoed by Edmund, who has shown himself to be an incredibly grounded individual, but if picked, will need to prepare himself for the possibility of a deciding fifth rubber.

 

Edmund added: “Whoever plays is going to give their best. Yeah, they’re going to prepare the same way they’ve done every other time. It doesn’t change. It’s a tennis match you’ll prepare for.”

 

The British team have been extremely fortunate this year with home ties all the way, beating USA in Glasgow in March, France at Queen’s in the summer, and finally getting the better of Australia back in Glasgow in the autumn.

 

They know full well the benefit of a home crowd, but could that also be a curse? The Belgian team don’t believe so.

 

Belgian Team Captain, Johan Van Herck said: ““I think for Belgium it’s important in sports in general, not only in tennis. I think it’s a really good team effort. I think in Belgium everybody appreciates that. I think the whole country will be behind us and we’ll try to keep the trophy here.”

 

Of course the matter of security is foremost in people’s minds. Fans travelling through Brussels have tried to find alternatives, as the City only just reopens after being on a lockdown. Even the British Stirling University ‘Barmy Army’ changed their minds about staying in Brussels for a night, choosing instead to head straight to Ghent.

Photo by Global Chick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Van Herck continued: I think we as a team have a lot of confidence in the organisation. I know they put in a lot of work even before that. I know when they had to put the work in for the security, there’s no reason and we have no doubts that we will be safe here.

 

“But, yeah, the difficulties are there. We try to focus on the sportive side. We cannot do anything about security. We have to see if we can get ready as a team. So we try to focus on the job and we will be ready on Friday.”

 

Andy Murray said in Britain’s conference: “It’s a different situation in Brussels than it is here. I know a lot of fans were staying there and planning on traveling through there. Obviously listen to the right people, if you’re doing that. But here in Ghent, everything seems fine. It’s very quiet. I think it’s a really nice city. Yeah, I hope as many fans can travel over as possible to give us the best support.”

 

· Great Britain have won the Davis Cup 9 times (shared with France) while Belgium are bidding for their first title

· Britain leads the head to head 7-4

· Britain has a 4-2 record against the Belgians on indoor clay, but have not beaten them since 1963 (5-0 in Brussels).

· Belgium beat Great Britain in their previous indoor encounter in 2012, in Glasgow.

· Belgium is through to the Davis Cup Final for the first time since 1904, where they lost 5-0… to the British Isles.

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