That’s not just because he’s my brother, but because he’s an exceptionally good tennis player.
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Serving for the set for a second time, he recovered from 15-30 with two superb points and then won the game, rather to his surprise, with an ace.
Goffin was 4-3 in five-set matches going into the final but had never come back from a two-set deficit before.
The duo were successful on both of those occasions, with a four-set defeat of Nicolas Mahut and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga giving Great Britain a pivotal 2-1 quarter-final lead at Queen’s Club before a thrilling five-setter saw off the challenge of Sam Groth and Lleyton Hewitt in September and helped lead Clarke’s side to their first final since 1978.
The Murrays – Andy at 28 is one year younger than Jamie – seldom play together on the ATP Tour as Andy concentrates on his singles career.
“Tomorrow I have nothing to lose”, said the Belgian rather unconvincingly. The first will see Goffin, the No. 16 singles player in the world, up against Andy.
“To play in a Davis Cup final with your brother, and to win a point for your country is obviously great”, he said.
Goffin began his comeback with a break of serve in the third game of the third set and broke again for a 4-1 lead. Even their chants were borrowed from soccer, with Brits screaming, “I, I believe, I believe that, I believe that we will in”.
“It was not for us the best tactic to go and play at the net and play real doubles, because I think the British were better”.
“It’s the first confrontation I have with him, match or practice”, revealed Bemelmans.
If Murray fails to close the deal, Edmund will need to beat Darcis or Bemelmans in the final rubber. Goffin is a world-class player, he likes the clay and he’s going to have the crowd behind him.
“I believe we can win the tie, obviously, otherwise there would be no point in us being there”, added Murray. It was tough to manage it because I didn’t know Kyle before the match, how he plays.
Older brother Jamie wavered at times, but he held his serve to finish the match off when Darcis screwed a forehand wide, signalling wild celebrations from the British fans wedged into the claustrophobic 13,000-seat arena inside the Flanders Expo. “We don’t know who they’ll play but we have good tactics for all of them”. And it will not have done David Goffin any good for the match to have lost that match. Andy Murray fired consecutive service winners to make it 1-1 despite some inspired play by the Belgians.
Andy Murray punched the air while his brother exhaled in relief after the brothers won a tense encounter, and made it nine points in a row for the Murray family in this year’s Davis Cup. The battle between these two on Sunday will be fascinating, for they both seem to feel completely at home on this court and are landing the ball on a handkerchief with nearly every shot.
Captain Leon Smith looked anxious and a word with coaches Louis Cayer and Nick Weal resulted in a tactical change – Andy dropping back when Jamie was returning. But it is Andy, overall, who has provided most of the horsepower driving Great Britain towards this rarely glimpsed prize.
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The third set was a different story as the atmosphere ramped up again and Murray found himself in hot water with umpire Carlos Ramos.
