DAVIS CUP TENNIS WON BY A GREAT BRITISH TEAM LED BY ANDY MURRAY

Written by: Staff on 29th November 2015

DAVIS CUP TENNIS WON BY A GREAT BRITISH TEAM LED BY ANDY MURRAY

epaselect epa05047439 Britain's team celebrates winning the Davis Cup World Group Final between Belgium and Britain in Gent, Belgium, 29 November 2015. EPA/LAURENT DUBRULE |

A Little Piece Of History In An Otherwise Mad World – GREAT BRITAIN Win The Davis Cup By Ros Satar

Move aside, the Perry era, and welcome the age of Murray, as the world No. 2, British No. 1 and all round laird of our green and pleasant land put the icing on the cake, sealing a straight sets win 6-3 7-5 6-3 over Belgium’s David Goffin to bring Great Britain home 3-1.

We could say, it was always in the bag. We could say the Belgians had a lucky draw with weakened squads from last year’s champions Switzerland, and Canada. But they can only fight who is presented over the other side of the net, and they absolutely deserved to be there.

Belgium’s David Goffin in action against Britain’s Andy Murray during the fourth match of the Davis Cup World Group Final between Belgium and Britain in Gent, Belgium, 29 November 2015. EPA/LAURENT DUBRULE

Goffin absolutely had to get off to a blinding start if he wanted to make any dent in Murray’s form, and although for the most part his fleetness of foot, and plucky fight had him hanging toe-to-toe with Murray, in the first set in particular his first serves did their best to trip him up.

A single break was a slim margin to seal the first set, but the four set points to earn it told a different story.

The drama really played out in set two, and it seemed to all the world that Goffin was having to dig awfully deep in each and every service game. They went on so long, we almost thought they had crossed into Murray’s service games, save for the fact that the Brit went on a bit of a holding spree, knocking three consecutive holds to love. Take THAT, ” House of Goffindor.”

By now with 11 sets of tennis in those slender little pins, Goffin was doing more than his fair share of trudging. The occasional nerves from Murray still evident, and as for the sound – I thought they would have to go some to match the near visceral sound of Glasgow, but the atmosphere on the last day even perhaps went some way to assuage the annoyance for fans of having to pay to use the loo! In truth we have decided this is actually a Belgian thing – even a cheeky nip into Maccy-D (McDonalds)costs you half a Euro.

We know you are supposed to stay strictly neutral but there were a few teary eyes, and wobbly bottom lips as Murray crashed to the clay with the Brits trampling over him as the final shot was played.

You see, once more history was being made, and you have to ask will we ever see the like again. I mean I am almost sure I will be there at a Slam somewhere to witness Murray winning another one in my lifetime, but one look at the forlorn England jerseys belonging to our harangued football (soccer) team shows us that many many years will come to pass before we could be in this position again.

Don’t believe me? Just look at Switzerland and their demise from Davis Cup champions to slumping out of the first round.

And who will take Andy Murray’s place? We think the light will next shine on young Kyle Edmund. Sure he got a public dunking in the fire clays of hell to lose from two sets up but he will learn from it and will get better.

For now though, let’s bask in what was good about this year’s Davis Cup Final. Two teams vying for history, some extremely high quality tennis and a suitable pinnacle for the sport to finish the year on.

To pee or not to pee. That is the question. 50 cents to use the loos at Flanders expo. @DavisCup. Captive market. – Photo by @judmoo via Twitter.

What could do with some more work? Seriously don’t serve 13000 fans beer and then expect them to pay for the toilets, and the trams going back to the quaint civilization of Ghent were rammed.(Jammed)

At times the internet would let us embittered hacks down, and maybe (especially with the addition of Betway to the sponsor folder) maybe the ITF should consider nominating a neutral and well equipped venue for the final and allow equal numbers of fans, although it has to be said, on Sunday you would never have known that only 10% of allocation had gone to the visitors, so fine in voice were they.

Goffin, who was visibly upset after the defeat on court said in press: “Andy was really solid today. I give what I had to do, what I have. Yeah, today I gave everything. I think after a match like this, I have no regrets. I think after a match like this, and a tie, we can all be proud. Even if we lost the tie today, I think we played an unbelievable season in Davis Cup. I think Andy and the Great Britains [sic] deserves the trophy today.”

Belgian Team Captain Johan Van Herck concurred, saying: “At the moment I have no regrets at all. I’m still behind all the choices I made. I’m behind the preparation we had. I think today we lost to a better team. That’s it. If you see Andy today, I think as David said, there was for us nothing more to do. We gave it everything, but he was just a better player. He was great at the big points.”

With the sound of Europop blasting out of the British Pub while the British team were being interviewed, the curtain fell on the season proper.

Captain Leon Smith summed it up, having been the driving force for the last five years behind the team: “Has to be one of the best achievements of all time. It’s incredible for all of us to watch how he’s managed to win that many rubbers, that many wins, especially when you look back at the tie in France and also the Australia match, obviously a lot of fatigue, managed to find a way through. It was absolutely incredible, amazing.”

And let’s leave it to the man of the moment to have the final word: “It’s obviously an amazing feeling. I imagine it will take a few days before it really sinks in. I’ve been pretty upset having lost matches before. But I’d say that’s probably the most emotional I’ve been after a win. It’s incredible that we managed to win this competition. I didn’t know that would ever be possible. It’s great.”

But have no fear – Andy’s back in action at the Champions Tennis in the Royal Albert Hall playing “TieBreak Tens” next weekend!

Ros Satar is a regular contributor to 10sballs.com and runs Britwatch Sports (@britwatchsports), because we Brits like watching sport. Occasionally we’re good at it.

It’s a mothers duty to embarrass their kids. This is my mother yesterday at @DavisCup. Tremendous. – Photo by @judmoo via Twitter.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Andy Murray, Belgium, David Goffin, Davis Cup Finals, Davis Cup tennis, Ghent, Great Britain, Judy Murray, Ros Satar, Sports, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

November 29, 2015 at 11:19 am

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https://t.co/ZMgPqeoqr4 #DavisCupWinners #BackTheBrits #DavisCupFinal