But hitting up with Andy Murray ahead of his opener against the talented David Goffin, Edmund looked confident, and he sounded ready to step up to what, on paper, was a formidable challenge against the 24-year-old Goffin.
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It’s also interesting to see how a top singles player can claim two fantastic victories, only to see his team lose the tie. The Belgians will once again enjoy home advantage for the final on a preferred clay surface and with most of the 13,000-crowd cheering them on. “The last five years it’s been a progression from a pretty low place in world tennis, to playing for the biggest team competition”.
British captain Smith said of Jamie’s form: “It’s absolutely fantastic”.
Smith’s attention to detail has been exemplary over the five years of his tenure and that as much as Murray’s individual heroics – or indeed the collective ones of the brothers – is why we are here in Ghent, a attractive but watchful city that has so far shown a quiet and respectful determination to offer sporting competition a haven in the current turbulent world.
Muck up here in Ghent and he will have failed in his totemic duty to lead Britain over the Davis Cup line for the first time in 79 years. This is the biggest team competition in our sport.
“It would be well deserved as well”.
“But, yeah, this will definitely be louder, a lot more people watching”. Belgium’s only previous appearance in the final came 111 years ago when they lost to what was then the British Isles. Everyone has played a huge part in getting us into this position. “I think I will be able to deal with it okay”. That is the theory.
There is every chance he will win all three rubbers and, in doing so, will win the Davis Cup for GB. “It’s hard to know exactly how the court’s going to play come Friday, but I liked it yesterday”.
It could be a ploy by Van Herck to keep Darcis fresh for Saturday’s doubles and a potential fifth-rubber decider on Sunday against Britain’s number two player. It’s not like I didn’t play, I just wasn’t that great. The experience I’ve had close to that is probably in Paris in my first round when I played a French guy in front of a loud French crowd. It is a new experience for me. I didn’t play really well. “But it’s a good problem and it’s exciting”.
It’s been a while since Great Britain last lifted the Davis Cup.
The issue for Murray could well be preserving energy on the indoor clay court before two more days of doubles and singles action. As a result, Britain arrived in Ghent to practice on the clay a day later than previously planned. “It’s going to be new for him as well”, Bemelmans said, summoning a small grain of optimism from a dire scenario. “I think we took the best decision and we’ll see who will play Saturday and Sunday”.
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“You do have the option that, let’s say Kyle freezes tomorrow, and I don’t think that will happen, but if he did Leon has the option that if the match goes to 2-2 he could put Ward in, and James has been there and done it”. It’s quite a odd situation to be in. Starting by beating a Switzerland team missing Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, Belgium also got past a Canada squad deprived of their star player, Milos Raoinic, before ousting Argentina, who were without U.S. Open champions Juan Martin del Potro.
