ADVANTAGE Great Britain. With a special mention for Dunblane, Scotland. A gargantuan effort from Andy and Jamie Murray at the Emirates Arena yesterday gave Leon Smith's side a priceless 2-1 lead going into the final day of their Davis Cup semi-final tie against Australia. This band of brothers admitted they had required to stick together as rarely before during this see-sawing 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4 victory over Aussie pairing Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth which unfolded over four absorbing hours in the East End of Glasgow.
The win, secured after the Brits had failed to capitalise on a match point in the fourth set, means that a third victory of the weekend for the World No 3, against Bernard Tomic at lunchtime today, would book Britain's first appearance in the final of the world team tennis event since 1978. As unfair as it may seem after the vain efforts of Dan Evans on Friday, it would also mean that all three of the winning points would have been secured by Scots. Waiting for them in the final will be either Argentina of Belgium, with the former going into the final day of the other semi-final in Brussels with a 2-1 advantage.
Unsurprisingly, it was an emotionally-drained Andy and Jamie who addressed the media after their first-ever Davis Cup doubles rubber on home soil. With the match finishing at approximately 5.15pm, it means the World No 3 has around 18 hours of recovery time before he is due on court.
“It was obviously an incredible match," said Andy. "To come back from the disappointment of losing that fourth set, obviously serving for it and then having match point in the tie-break. They came up with some great tennis to get back into it, but we kept creating chances, kept fighting hard. We stuck together like brothers should and just managed to come up with enough good returns at the end to get through.
“But the longer the match, the less time there is to recover," he added. "Physically, it’s tough but emotionally, matches like that are draining as well. I don’t think enough is made of that. I think I’ll let Dom [Inglot, the doubles specialist who missed out on Saturday] play the singles!"
Ironically, considering the decibel level at which much of the match was played, it reached its conclusion with the World No 3 exhorting the 8,000 crowd in the East End of Glasgow for some reverential hush. While his older brother was intent on whipping the crowd into a frenzy, Andy revealed that part of his modus operandi as one of the world's elite returners is to listen intently to the ferocity with which the ball was coming off his opponent's racket. He wanted to hear how hard Sam Groth, the man who possesses the world record for serving speed, was hitting it.
"He serves extremely quickly and he gets up to the line," said Andy. "Most players wait until the crowd goes quiet but he just goes up there and gets his serve in. As a returner, the sound of the ball being hit helps you time the return. If I returned with headphones in I would find it very very difficult to return."
At times playing with earplugs might not have seemed a bad idea. Jamie, twice a Grand Slam finalist this year, admitted the atmosphere in this arena had hit new heights. "The crowd was a farce," he said. "From the first point to the last it was so good, so noisy. It was a joy. It was magic. For us it’s amazing to come back to Scotland and play. Scottish people in particular don’t get a chance to see Andy play very much.”
The state of the tie leaves Leon Smith's side in good shape ahead of Sunday but Australia still have enough cards to play for the Glaswegian to be wary. While Bernard Tomic, ranked No 23 in the world, should get the nod to face Murray first on Sunday, there is an argument for throwing two-time Grand Slam winner and epic competitor Lleyton Hewitt back into action one last time. The veteran, twice a winner of this competition previously, will give up the sport at the end of this year. Captains can change their nominations up to one hour before the start time and Aussie captain Wally Masur indicated that he had some thinking to do. "We do have that versatility with four singles players, but we’ll make our decision in the morning," said Masur.
Hewitt said he would be up for the challenge if required. "Obviously we’ve been able to keep Andy out there for a long time, but he is going to be the favourite going into the match," said the veteran. "He obviously played really well on Friday as well. There’s still two matches to go and we’ve got to somehow come up with the best plan in both of these matches to hopefully give ourselves an opportunity to go through to the final."
“Wally said before the match that he needed Hewitt and Groth to play the match of their lives," said GB captain Leon Smith, "and they’ve pretty much done that, yet we’ve still got a really important win. Andy played so well against Kokkinakis and to now go 2-1 up going into the final day is terrific, but there’s a lot of work to be done. It’s important now that Andy gets the recovery he needs so he can go again.”
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