Andy Murray said winning the Davis Cup was more emotional than winning Wimbledon following his guiding of Great Britain to the team trophy for the first time since 1936.
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And Belgium’s clay court tactic wasn’t at all effective as Murray teamed up with his older brother Jamie to win the doubles on Saturday against Goffin and Steve Darcis to give Britain a 2-1 lead going into Sunday’s reverse singles matches.
He became only the third player after John McEnroe in 1982 and Mats Wilander in 1983 to achieve an 8-0 singles record in one calendar year since the introduction of the World Group in 1981 – and the first to win eight matches that counted.
It was rather fitting, then, that the title was secured by the younger Andy, who had won the decisive doubles with his brother Jamie on the day before, as the world number two simply had too much for David Goffin. He improved a lot since Friday [when Goffin fell two sets down to Kyle Edmund before recovering].
It was highly competitive throughout, with Murray never able to pull away from the tenacious Goffin, who had failed to take a set off the Scot in two previous matches. “I imagine we’ll have a party tonight”. What he’s managed to do for this team is astonishing, to post that many wins [Murray won 11 of Great Britain’s 12 points in the competition] in one year.
Great Britain captain Leon Smith, speaking about Murray, said: “It has to be one of the best achievements of all time”.
Belgium captain Johan van Herck said Murray “was just a better player” as his team failed to win its first title. “They did very, very well today”. @andy_murray Seeing ur reaction after winning made me relive again how it was 4 us in ’10.
“But I think all of the staff have done genuinely an unbelievable job”. Five years ago he took over a team that had just been defeated by Lithuania in the competition’s third division, perhaps Great Britain’s lowest ebb in the Davis Cup.
Leading bookmaker Coral put Andy at odds of 6-4 to be summoned to Buckingham Palace by Her Majesty and 2-1 to win the BBC award for 2015.
“Murray is a tremendous champion”, said Goffin.
However, the break point went begging and Goffin held to level as Murray netted a backhand.
And the last time Britain competed in a final was in 1978.
The key moments of the first set came when Murray defied more noise from the crowd to save a break point in the fifth game and then showed why he is a class above all the other players in this tie by stringing four exceptional points together to break to love.
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“I probably haven’t been as emotional as that after a match that I’ve won”, Murray told reporters later as dance music still reverberated around the vast warehouse-like arena on the edge of the city.
