If only he could rediscover even a sliver of the magic he showed them here four years ago when he beat Andy Roddick then Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Aegon final.
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Murray was under pressure to win the second rubber of the day on the grass courts of Queen’s Club in West London after Gilles Simon had given last year’s runners-up France the flawless start with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 rout of James Ward.
“Just chase every ball down and I didn’t care how I played I just wanted to win the match today”.
Hewitt and Groth kept the Australians in the tie with a straight sets doubles win over Andrey Golubev and Nedovyesov on Saturday, setting up a tense final day.
That victory put Great Britain into the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time since 1981. “This weekend was tough”, Murray said. This team has done awesome things, we’re punching above our weight here and we’re now in the semi-finals of the biggest team competition in tennis.
“I want to play at the best possible venue where we can get the most amount of people”, Murray said.
Despite admitting his body is feeling the strain of a gruelling spell that saw him reach the Wimbledon and French Open semi-finals, Andy agreed to be inserted alongside Jamie instead of Dominic Inglot.
“It obviously feels unbelievable to get through that, it wasn’t looking great in the second set“, he told BBC Sport.
“I just tried to change tactics, I was making too many mistakes. They have such a strong team and I’ll need to play great tennis to win”.
Judy Murray called it a “Fine Bromance”.
But he stuck with the world number 11, which was good news for Murray, who had won 12 of his previous 14 meetings with Simon.
Murray, who ended Britain’s 77-year wait for a homegrown male singles title in 2013, now has his sights set on another milestone. Though Simon appeared poised to take it and a two sets to love lead, Murray countered later in the breaker.
Another break-point came and went for Simon as he missed a chance to put France in total control of the tie before an exhausting eighth game left Murray collapsed on the turf following a painstaking 35 shot rally.
Again Murray looked out for the count, going down 4-1, but levelled, and come 6-5, Murray managed one more point against serve to seal the set, 7-6(5).
Belgium reached its first semis since 1999 when Ruben Bemelmans and Kimmer Coppejans won the doubles for an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Canada on clay in Ostend.
Consistency and movement had been key to Simon’s earlier success but both began to waver as groundshots missed their mark and then another slip allowed Murray an easy volley and an early break in the fourth.
Murray looked increasingly distressed, lacking energy and unable to generate pace and depth through the court, and a succession of errors gave Simon an immediate break and a 2-0 lead in the second.
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Murray wrapped up victory when a Simon backhand flew wide and, after leaping about the court with a Union Flag in hand, the Scot was unable to hold back the tears as he embraced captain Leon Smith.
