His opponent world no. 12 David Goffin is ranked 88 places above him and will have the majority of the 12,000 capacity Flanders Expo Arena screaming their support for him.
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Like Murray and Bemelmans, this will be a first meeting between Edmund and Goffin, and the Belgian number one admitted he is somewhat in the dark.
Founder member Amanda Shepherd watched her first match in the 1978 semi-final against Australia at Crystal Palace and traveled later that year to the final at Mission Hills in California where she found herself acting as a ball girl in training sessions.
Edmund, nevertheless, comes across as a man with a wise head on young shoulders.
“He’s going up against someone he probably doesn’t know much about although I’m sure they’ve done their homework”.
Among them were Jamie MacDonald, Euan Forbes and Stuart McLean, a trio of friends with links to Stirling University, a college between Glasgow and Edinburgh that has over time become the unofficial cheerleading corps for the Great Britain team.
“But my job is to give my best and give my all”.
Ruben Bemelmans was handed the unenviable task of trying to stop Andy Murray’s bid to win the Davis Cup final for Britain this weekend after being surprisingly picked as Belgium’s second singles player. It is a new experience for me.
“This will be the biggest crowd I’ve ever played in front of. But it’s a good problem and it’s exciting”.
The British team would have wanted today’s rubbers to be the other way round, giving Murray more time to recover for tomorrow’s doubles and, assuming there was not a huge upset, allowing Edmund to play with the security of a point already on the board. The slight and slender Belgian won the Comeback Player of the Year Award at the end of last year after a storming rise to 22 from outside the top 100, having broken his wrist in 2013. As soon as we made that decision, it’s much better to have more singles options, because who knows what might happen over the next couple of days?
Good question. Davis Cup ties are played over three days, usually Friday to Sunday.
In essence, that means the canny Smith has not painted himself into the corner of having to use a rookie should the fifth rubber of the match be a decisive one.
“I think with our game styles, he is the flawless partner for me with his return of serve and his feel for the game”, said the Scot, 29. That’s really a positive thing.
“Try to get them on the back a little bit of the English – the Brits, if I have to be correct”. It’s obviously a big opportunity for all of us.
“But I also believe in all of the players in our team”. He has won all eight of his matches in the competition this season, including two with older brother Jamie in doubles.
There was a 5-0 defeat in Slovakia in 1995 that sent Britain into a Group Two relegation playoff against mighty Monaco and a home defeat by Ecuador in 2000 when rookie Giovanni Lapentti, playing his first match on a grasscourt, sealed their fate.
“The weekend will be long”. Bemelmans, asked how he might beat Murray, smiled. I’ve been in that position, I think, a lot of times in my career. “Maybe I have a slight advantage there”. Obviously for myself personally, it’s my first match of the Davis Cup for my country.
“If he wins he’s virtually won the Davis Cup for Britain”. Murray ended up winning 19 of the 32 points off Ferrer’s second serve.
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As unlikely as it seemed five years ago when GB’s Davis Cup credentials were at an all-time low, the team now find themselves in the final against Belgium in Ghent.
