But the Captain was pleased with his team’s battle level and looks back on the nation’s great run, one that took them to their first Davis Cup title in 79 years last season, with pride.
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Despite the ailment Murray went on to win his rubber comfortably 6-3, 6-2, 6-3, sending the tie to a decider between Dan Evans and Leonardo Mayer.
The former world No 21 had been picked for the winner-takes-all showdown instead of talisman Juan Martin Del Potro, who felt unable to risk his comeback from injury by playing for a third day in a row, and instead of Argentina’s No 1 player by ranking, clay-court specialist Federico Delbonis. Dan Quarrell of EuroSport, quoted Del Potro as saying, “I want to play for many years, not one more match”.
Cilic levelled the tie on Friday when he saw off Lucas Pouille and he paired up with Ivan Dodig to give Croatia the lead with their win in the doubles against Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut on Saturday.
Murray later insisted it wasn’t just a normal thigh injury that forced him off court. However Forget played stunning tennis to defeat Pistol Pete and lift their first Davis Cup in nearly 60 years.
But he found it spectacularly in the following three sets to take an exultant Argentinian team into a November final against Croatia.
“He is a great Davis Cup player and absolutely loves it”.
“I don’t know what it is about the Davis Cup it brings out the best in me”.
The 26-year-old, who was preferred to Edmund following his disappointing performance against Pella, began well, but Mayer made a lot of errors in the opening set. Mayer went on to hold with his seventh ace, and though Evans had a glimmer of a hope at 0-30 as Mayer served for the set, he could not live with the big and varied hitting of the Argentine.
“We’ve had an unbelievable run in this competition over the last couple of years”, Smith told BBC Radio 5 live.
Smith said: “Whether he’ll play next year is not something I have thought about. I was still moving okay, but when you get pain in your body it distracts you”.
A exhausted Murray then lost to Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals of the US Open.
Thankfully, he returned to see out his match 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 but moments later gave a somewhat brusque answer when asked why he had felt the need to leave the court.
“But I would be annoyed for sure if that was me”. I felt a lot of pressure on my serve and he served unbelievable. “If you’re the one that’s sitting and waiting, it’s frustrating”.
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Murray will now focus on resting his aching body ahead of a scheduled return to tour action in Beijing in two weeks’ time, which may mean sitting out his own charity event in Glasgow on Wednesday.
