Murray, who gave Britain its tenth team title, has now added Davis Cup to his major titles apart from Wimbledon, the US Open and the Olympic Games.
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“It is fantastic, as good a feeling as I could imagine”, said British team captain Leon Smith, who has overseen his country’s revival from the depths of the Davis Cup third tier to cup glory in the space of five years. I have lost in the final four times.
It was a fitting climax for the 28-year-old Scot to provide the winning point, having won all 11 rubbers he played in during the campaign as the British defeated heavyweights United States, France and Australia before the clincher against Belgium.
“What he’s managed to do for this team is astonishing, to post that many wins in one year”, he said. A pair of mishits by Goffin would put the Belgian in peril as Murray saw a break chance.
The Briton insisted that it was incredible that they managed to win this competition as he did not know that it would ever be possible.
Two years removed from his most recent triumph at the All-England Club, Andy Murray is the pride of Great Britain once again. I haven’t won there but I think I’ve often played my best tennis.
Playing in front of a hostile home crowd at the Flanders Expo in Ghent, Murray made sure that James Ward did not have to play a deciding fifth rubber against Steve Darcis by putting Britain 3-1 up with his win over Goffin in the fourth rubber. I can’t talk highly enough about him.
Speaking about their post-win celebrations, Murray said: “We all stayed in the hotel and our friends and family came round, and a lot of the fans were staying in the hotel or nearby so they were in the bar area and we chatted and spent a bit of time with them, so it was really nice”. The world No. 16 dropped the first two sets by getting broken only once and he surged ahead 2-0 in the third before Murray recovered.
He became only the third player after John McEnroe in 1982 and Mats Wilander in 1983 to achieve an 8-0 singles record in one calendar year since the introduction of the World Group in 1981 – and the first to win eight matches that counted. I will try to do that in Australia. Murray then levelled the series by beating Ruben Bemelmans in straight sets. Against Belgium, he won two singles matches and a doubles encounter where he partnered brother Jamie. ‘I never thought we would have the opportunity to do this and I can’t believe we did it.
“He was all about the team, and clearly the best thing that we’ve always said about Andy Murray is he keeps winning, and especially when he wins in special moments like this”.
Murray said: ” I was pumped the whole match. Even if we lost the tie today, I think we played an unbelievable season in Davis Cup.
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He said: “We’ll all remember this year for the rest of our lives, regardless of what happens in the rest of any of our careers”. “Nothing may ever top this, it’s definitely one of the highlights of all of our careers”. “I really want to enjoy it and then we’ll figure it out after that”.
