ANDY Murray can't do everything on his own. But he can give it a damn good try. Twelve months ago to the day, this son of Glasgow was composing a tweet which was ultimately unable to swing the result of the independence referendum. Yesterday though, he let his tennis do the talking.
In front of an exuberant crowd at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, the 28-year-old wielded that fearsome influence of his to bring one of the greatest achievements in both British and Scottish sport one step closer to reality. Those who feel it is mission impossible for Team GB to recapture the Davis Cup 79 years after the heady days of Fred Perry, and just five years after facing the also-rans in the lower reaches of the Euro/Africa Zone, discovered that 'no' is a word which is not in the World No3's vocabulary.
After the rigours of a long but successful season, Murray may have to force his body through three days this weekend to maximise Great Britain's chances of overcoming a doughty Australia side. On this evidence, don't bet against it. Murray was in a hurry yesterday and most demoralising of all for the Aussie side during this 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 win may be that Kokkinakis wasn't able to detain him longer than 107 minutes. A crucial plank of Wally Masur's strategy is to cumulatively deplete the World No 3's resources as much as possible.
Another two successful rubbers here, most likely all secured with the assistance of the younger Murray sibling, would move Britain through to their first Davis Cup final since 1978, with only a home tie with Argentina, or an away match against Belgium, in late November standing in the way of history. Britain, fuelled by its main tennis superpower Scotland, as the undeniable epicentre of planet tennis? Now that would be something.
Aside from a doubles match in the company of Greg Rusedski against Serbia way back in 2006, Andy Murray has never lost on Scottish soil in this competition, but he approached new peaks of perfection here against Kokkinakis. The 19-year-old World No 72 from Adelaide and the 28-year-old Scot are good friends, practising together at most Grand Slams, lampooning each other's attire on twitter and indulging in Fifa multiplayer marathons on the Playstation. At least they were before yesterday. On their first ever competitive meeting, the older man simply schooled the younger.
The Emirates Arena was at its spine-tingling best as the teams were introduced beforehand. A rousing God Save the Queen went off without any noticeable Jeremy Corbynism, while James Ward and Kyle Edmund, the duo passed over for the second singles spot in Leon Smith's side, stoically took their place courtside. The PA announcer reminded the audience of the 'Partisan crowd' rule which could lead to forfeiting of points in the event of overly rowdy behaviour but to be honest the Glasgow crowd couldn't have given a XXXX. Aussie players throughout the globe are followed by a boisterous wee group called the fanatics, but their behaviour merely seemed routine here, as saltires and lion rampants mingled without contradiction with areas which were more last night of the proms than first day of the Davis Cup.
Wally Masur's side hoped this would be a last night for the Poms but any notion that Kokkinakis would be able to live with the World No 3 evaporated quickly. These two men were relatively fresh, with Murray crashing out to an inspired Kevin Anderson in the last 16 at Flushing Meadows, and Kokkinakis retiring hurt during his opening round match against Richard Gasquet. Kokkinakis is rated as highly as his controversial countryman Nick Kyrgios, but he has yet to get beyond the third round at any slam.
Murray may never have served better. His opening service game was done to love, early indication of a dominance which would see him lose just six points on serve all day long, and three of them were when he double faulted. The statisticians said that his 93% of first serve points won was his highest ever in a completed five-set match.
The Scot was making inroads into the Kokkinakis serve too, the poor boy having bravely served from behind to saved six of them before succumbing with his seventh to go 2-4 into arrears. Kokkinakis had spoken warmly of his first-ever taste of haggis but his Scottish sojourn had suddenly turned sour. The Aussie did well just to make Murray serve out for the set, which he promptly did to love, sealing the deal with an ace.
The Scot's shoulders relaxed and suddenly he was gobbling up all his break points. A beautiful, instinctive backhand lob laid the ground work for another break in the first game of the set, with a bewildered Kokkinakis finding himself bagelled within just 25 minutes. The teenager at least was able to win a few service games in set number three, but he had no answers when Murray lifted it again. "I have practised with him a fair few times and I have to say that is the best he has ever played against me by a mile," said Kokkinakis. "I haven't lost a set 6-0 for a long time and it isn't good for the ego."
Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the Scot always feels he plays better for his country, whether it is Scotland or Britain, the Davis Cup or the Olympics. At points he could almost savour his own performance. “Definitely, at times you can appreciate what’s happening," he said. "But it’s very important to maintain the right shot selection and not drop your intensity at all."
During all this, the Scot sent down a total of ten aces on the day, enough for an initial £2,000 contribution to Unicef to help tackle the refugee crisis. As I say, Andy Murray can't do everything on his own. But he can give it a damn good try.
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