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Great Britain rise to No. 1 in Davis Cup rankings

Murray played a crucial role in helping Great Britain win the Davis Cup for the first time since 1936 on Sunday as they beat Belgium in the final.

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With this victory, Andy Murray became the first player to win eight live singles rubbers in a Davis Cup year since the introduction of the World Group in 1981.

Murray secured the victory with a dominant straight-set win over top Belgian player David Goffin, winning 6-3, 7-5, 6-2. “Today I gave everything”, Goffin, who had given Belgium the lead on Friday with a five-set defeat of Kyle Edmund, told reporters.

Well what do you know, after a 79-year drought, it took Andy Murray to lead the British team to clinch the Davis Cup once again! But the last time it won the team competition, Fred Perry was its star.

Within minutes of the win, Twitter went into meltdown as users demanded Andy be knighted in the Queen’s New Year honours list, while there were also calls for the GB squad to be named the BBC’s team of the year at the Sports Personality awards.

“I played one match in the final but a lot of other players have played their part in getting the trophy and everyone deserves the recognition”, he added.

“I just can’t believe we did it”, said Murray.

Although Goffin managed to defend himself with honour, especially during the second set -lost because of a forehand that found the net on break point-, Murray sealed the victory with a trademark backhand lob.

“I’ve been close (in Australia) a number of years”.

“Leon is obviously responsible for bringing everybody together as a team and having everyone perform their roles as best they can”.

Now it’s not as if anyone expected either Bemelmans or their second-best player Steve Darcis to win that match, but the veteran Darcis can play an attacking game at net and force Murray into a different retrieval game.

He commented: “It’s an unbelievable feeling”.

“We’ll all remember this year for the rest of our lives, regardless of what happens in the rest of any of our careers”, said boxing-fan Murray, who revealed he had stayed up late the night before to watch Tyson Fury win the world heavyweight title on internet streaming.

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“It’s been a good year for me and this is a great way to finish it. I finished No. 2 in the world, which is the highest I’ve ever finished the season in the rankings, so that was positive”.

Andy Murray of Great Britain