Murray collapsed to the clay, head buried in his hands, before being mobbed by captain Leon Smith and his team-mates. Murray held serve easily, while Goffin hung on grimly.
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Murray said: “I just need to make sure I get the rest right now because I’ve played so much tennis”.
Asked if the triumph should be marked with a parade, Murray – who won three points in the final – joked: “I’m not sure anyone would come, we’d just be going round London seeing sights on our own and waving at buildings”. I’ve been pretty upset having lost matches before.
“He not only led this team to a grand championship that this nation hasn’t had in 79 years, but no one can question his commitment to this country, the commitment to the game, the commitment to the team”, Downey said.
“It’s incredible that we managed to win this competition”.
Murray added: “I don’t know where the next generation are”.
Murray, who gave Britain its tenth team title, has now added Davis Cup to his major titles apart from Wimbledon, the US Open and the Olympic Games.
World number two Murray, whose return to the team in 2013 accelerated Britain’s rapid rise from the depths that begun when Smith took charge in 2010, has won 11 live rubbers in this year’s run, matching Ivan Ljubicic’s total for Croatia in 2005.
Building on the team’s successes to deliver greater participation in the sport is his next goal, but there are no specific plans to sit down with the World No 2 to chart the way forward.
But there is no doubt that Murray is the man primarily to thank. “It’s incredible for all of us to watch how he’s managed to win that many rubbers, that many wins”. I can’t talk highly enough about him. “Once we got through that, I really felt like we had a chance to do it”.
Smith was Murray’s childhood coach and the 28-year-old was full of praise for the remarkable job done by his fellow Scot.
Not surprisingly, the Lawn Tennis Association wants Smith to stay in the role, but it would be understandable if he felt this was the flawless time for a change.
Goffin squandered a break point at 2-2 in the opening set and Murray then pounced, scorching a backhand victor off a weak second serve to take a lead he never relinquished. The second set turned out to be the key to the final.
Murray was the dominant force for the fourth Davis Cup tie running as he became only the third man after John McEnroe and Mats Wilander to end a campaign with an 8-0 singles record.
Jamie Murray: “It’s huge for me”. The crowd obviously helped with that. It doesn’t happen too often. It’s monumental. I’m so proud of every single player and the staff that’s played a part.
The nod came as Murray and his Davis Cup team-mates dismissed the idea of a victory parade to mark their historic win in Ghent, Belgium, joking that no-one would turn up to see them. “I think the format’s good”. We can all be proud.
“It will definitely give me a boost going into the off season. I’d just rather Jamie wasn’t in my eye-line at that moment, so I let him know!”
“Hopefully we can all use it in a positive way to further our careers in the next few years”. Nothing may ever top this now. There’s only been I think two players who had won eight singles, so to do that is nice. “All of us understand this will be one of the best moments in our careers regardless of what anyone goes on to achieve after this”.
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“I’d imagine everyone will be on fire tonight, it’s been an unbelievable road to get here and we should enjoy this”.
