THESE are days so heady that one regrets those multiple sooks at the Buckfast ice lolly and that enthusiastic interaction with crystal meth, that capricious temptress of the synapses.

Oh to be alive yesterday and to be in Dalmarnock! Well, I was in Dalmarnock. There to worship at the bespoke-trainered feet of Andrew Barron Murray, slayer of invaders bearing rackets and Davis Cup ambitions. He initialled yet another victory into his roll of honour, beating Thanasi Kokkinakis, the 19-year-old Aussie, in straights so slick the court had to be wiped afterwards. Kokkinakis, baseball hat worn backwards, was dispatched so quickly that his retreat to the locker room had that aspect of the disaffected teenager who heads for the bedroom with the words: “You will all miss me when I run away.” Thanasi, incidentally, is a good guy with a great future.

On the contrary, there is not much new to be said about Oor Andy and I would be last man to be expected to provide either novelty or illumination. The last time I did both was when I swallowed the Christmas tree lights. Blame a bet and a Buckfast ice lolly.

But yesterday a chat with a former tennis player who shall remain nameless (he has ambitions of being in a spaghetti Western) made it clear that no team depended so much on Andy since Roy of the Rovers hung up his boots. Or, to be precise, had his boots drawn hanging on a nail.

The simple equation for Britain is that Andy Murray has to win five more Davis Cup matches and Team GB will win the whole caboodle. A home tie with Argentina or a trip to Belgium awaits if the Aussies are beaten over this weekend. For this eventuality to occur, Murray The Younger will have to win two more rubbers this weekend, one almost certainly in tandem with Murray the Elder. The extraordinary facet about the world No.3 is that one takes for granted wins in singles against the best of Australia, Belgium or Argentina. The tension arises when contemplating his alliance with Jamie, the eighth-best doubles player in the world and a finalist in two grand slam doubles this season.

A reasonable interpretation is that if the Dunblane brothers win two doubles matches then Team GB will win the title. This is almost an unnecessary underlining of the family nature of Scottish tennis that continues to this day.

Leon Smith is the Team GB captain. I bumped into his brother, Toby, who is just back from Samoa where he watched with satisfaction the progress of Ewen Lumsden, the 15-year-old brother of Maia, a Junior Orange Bowl winner. I then chatted to Jamie Baker, son of Gordon, chairman of Tennis Scotland, and a former Davis Cup player, Jamie, that is. Gordon was shamefully overlooked.

This is not to suggest that tennis in Scotland is a small, exclusive group of families. The roars of more than 8000 fans were a raucous denial of that theory. No, it is rather to say that this is a small country where tennis had its devoted adherents and now has its enthusiastic fellow travellers. However, two brothers stand at the centre of making history for Team GB. Murray the Younger has won 29 Davis Cup rubbers (more than enough for a tyre for a reasonably priced family car) and Murray the Elder has won five of his nine ties.

Thus, the immediate future is in their hands. The more distant future is in the hands of others. Just up the road from Dalmarnock, while the Davis Cup previews were being played out, Judy Murray was taking her Tennis on the Road to kids in Dennistoun. The next day she was in Drumchapel. Impressively, she is not seduced by the glamour of it all.

In sports centres, town halls and school gyms, kids are being introduced to tennis and others are being instructed on how to coach. This is not to supply future Fed Cup or Davis Cup squads but simply to bring the joy and the goodness of sport to a wider constituency. It is the same ethos that will sustain the Elena Baltacha Academy which will soon come to Scotland.

The roars inside the Emirates last night were loud and sustained. The tie is evenly poised. It can only certainly be won by the efforts of two Scots but it is somehow comforting to know that there are those in other parts of Glasgow who are lifting a racket and may continue to do so for some time. They need not reach the heights of the Murrays but they can achieve the considerable consolation of finding a game they enjoy and that can accompany them through life.

Andy just might be five wins from lifting a Davis Cup. His work will be rightfully lauded and loudly appreciated. But it is good to know that the work of bringing a sport to the uninitiated is going on quietly, steadily and with undoubted focus.

It is enough to raise a warming sense of anticipation. Now where did I put that Buckfast ice lolly…