Murray and his colleagues will have home advantage as they take on Argentina in the semi-finals here at the Emirates Arena this weekend, with the winners to take on France or Croatia in the final in November.
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“I have to be smart”, said Del Potro.
“Hopefully we can play good tennis and I will try to enjoy the whole atmosphere on court”.
Andy Murray, on facing Juan Martin del Potro in the opening match: “It will be a very tough match”.
“It was tough”, he said.
Del Potro, who did not rule out playing doubles, said: “I’m so exhausted”.
“I’ve never played a match that long”.
Del Potro and Mayer then found themselves a break up in the third and serving for a 5-3 lead, only for the Murrays to hit back with consecutive breaks to go two sets to one up.
There is no doubt that if Great Britain clinch the doubles, and with the younger Murray the favourite in his encounter against Pella it will be down to either Edmund or Dan Evans to beat Del Potro to keep their dreams alive.
“We are still in it”, said Smith.
“Everyone is exhausted – it’s that stage of the season”.
The must-win rubber for the holders in the worldwide team competition took almost three hours, putting Andy Murray’s court time over two weekend matches at eight hours.
The Murrays had raced through the first set for the loss of just one game but a poor service game from Andy Murray let Argentina into the contest early in the second.
Sequel fatigue might be a problem for Hollywood studios, but not for Andy Murray.
The 29-year-old is in the form of his career having already won a second Wimbledon title, a second Olympic gold medal and reached the final of the Australian and French Opens this season.
That was 13 minutes longer than Murray’s epic against Kei Nishikori in March’s first round at Birmingham, and spells the end of the twenty-match streak which has seen him always win at singles on home turf.
But at 1pm today, when Murray walks out on to the Emirates court in front of nearly 9000 adoring Scots, he will have to deal with the emotional turmoil of knowing his beloved grandfather Gordon is being laid to rest today.
The proud grandfather told interviewers in 2012 that he knew Andy was destined for greatness after watching him play tennis in his garden when the brothers visited.
The former US Open champion, who won a five-set match for the first time since 2010, said: ” I’m so exhausted.
“I thought I did great today”.
It was awesome for us. That starts tomorrow and hopefully we can find a way to win that match. Captain Leon Smith added: “The Murrays have given us so many good moments as a team and we needed them”.
A senior tennis source said that the situation “won’t affect Andy’s participation” in today’s match.
In addition, Del Potro will also return to the court, as he’ll partner Mayer, rather than Delbonis.
“The travelling Argentine media are inclined to take his words at face value – and suspect he won’t play”.
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Whether a sportsperson or not, it is never easy to lose a loved one and Murray is putting his nation ahead of himself in order to take part.
