THE parallels between 2015 and 1978 are not lost on Paul Hutchins. Now 70, the father of former Davis Cup doubles player and Andy Murray's pal Ross was captain the last time Great Britain reached the final of the team World Cup of men's tennis. Just as they were 37 years ago, a high powered Australian side were Britain's opponents in the semi-final, in a home tie played on an indoor court. Just like Leon Smith this week, Hutchins relied heavily on his No 1 man, in the form of Buster Mottram, a figure who may have expressed political sympathies with Enoch Powell, but was no mean player on the singles court.
The Londoner would reach a career high ranking of 15 and at that point he was reeling off Andy-Murray like victories over the very best the world has to offer. Alas, while a slightly injured Mottram fulfilled his part of the bargain in the final at Mission Hills, USA, by taking care of year-end World No 7 Brian Gottfried, a youngster called John McEnroe chose that occasion to make a statement to the watching world. In his very first Davis Cup singles rubbers, he racked up short order wins against first John Lloyd then Mottram, with doubles pairing Stan Smith and Bob Lutz too strong for Mark Cox and David Lloyd in the doubles. The US eventually took the tie 4-1 but in the main the memories are still fond for Hutchins, now a tournament director for the LTA.
"It was a great occasion because it was the first time in 63 years that we had reached the final," Hutchins told Herald Sport. "The semi-final victory was very sweet against Australia because Australia against Great Britain, whether it was cricket or tennis was always a battle which was interesting. We played it indoors on a supreme court at Crystal Palace and rather like Andy is the mainstay in the British team I had Buster Mottram as the mainstay in my team. He was a very good player in those days and loved the Davis Cup. He won amazing matches for us against all the odds. John Lloyd was also a good player, and we played Tony Roche and John Alexander in the singles then came up against a very good doubles team in Ross Case and Geoff Masters.
"For the final at Mission Hills, commercialisation wasn't what it is now, but that was the first match the LTA got a promotions officer, who got the flags out, and led to that very fervent support," he added. "We were 1-1 after the first day, even though Buster Mottram had not played much tennis during the week because he was slightly injured.
"I am obviously very close to Leon, I spoke to him the last few days and he has done a great job but he would be the first to recognise like me that the Davis Cup over five sets you never know. You have to rely on your number one, Andy has been fantastic and you have now got a top ten doubles standard in Jamie. You have Andy playing first match which is important because if he did happen to have a long match there is more chance of him playing doubles if he plays first match. And it is interesting Dan Evans has now popped up. When I was head of men's tennis for the second time he was a player who wasn't disciplined, someone who had his own thoughts about how he would construct his lifestyle. Now he is 25 I hope he is calming down. He certainly has the potential to be top 100 but he is now 25 and we have been saying that since he was 19. He certainly won't be frightened of the occasion."
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