Davis Cup: Andy Murray beats John Isner to seal ‘big win’ over USA

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/mar/08/andy-murray-davis-cup-john-isner

Version 0 of 1.

Andy Murray will be in the air most of Monday, heading for Indian Wells where whispers surfaced a year ago that Ivan Lendl was about to bring their two-year association to a sudden and painful stop.

But he will have a spring in his step this time, happy to have helped Great Britain knock the United States out of the Davis Cup in front of his own people in Glasgow and glad to be picking up again now with Lendl’s successor, Amélie Mauresmo.

The wheels on the tennis caravan rarely stop and the joy of a 3-2 victory to reach the quarter-finals against France in July will give way this week to the graft that awaits him when the Tour resumes on quicker courts in the California sun.

He will have as company James Ward, whose victory over John Isner on the first day drove the team’s momentum after Murray had beaten Donald Young (who was later gifted the concluding rubber when Ward retired, a set up and nursing what he all but admitted was a convenient “sore knee”).

Ward has to qualify still for Indian Wells, but there is little doubt he has cemented his place in this team, and will be a key player wherever the quarter-final is played. Ideally, that home tie would be at Wimbledon, but it falls a week after the Championships and preparing the grass could well be a horticultural nightmare. The easiest option would be to hold it again in Glasgow because the atmosphere at the Emirates Arena in front of 7,700 fans was special.

Whether or not it helped Murray survive the hurricane serving of Isner in a first set of brutal intensity – with six of the American’s 28 aces arriving in the first 10 minutes – is hard to tell, but the reinstated world No4 used all his experience and skill to frustrate then finish off the ailing Isner 7-6, 6-3, 7-6 in two-and-a-half hours.

“Everyone fought extremely hard,” Murray said, referring also to the desperately close defeat of his brother Jamie and Dominic Inglot in the Saturday doubles, when the Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, were stretched to the limit over five sets.

“Especially when we were behind in the matches,” he added. “Nobody gave up, everyone played every point very hard. We deserved to win. It’s a big win. For me it’s not necessarily a personal thing; this is the one week during the year when it is not about yourself – it’s about the whole team and it means a lot to everyone.

“There is a real synergy within the team and that builds the emotion and the togetherness. It gives you that extra incentive to perform and go out there to fight for every point. I was very emotional all weekend.

“I know the team and the staff very well. I was proud of them as team-mates and as friends, and also my brother, the way they performed and fought in this arena under so much pressure. I thought they all did incredibly well and I was proud to be part of their team.”

Murray said he would welcome the challenge of reaching the Wimbledon final and having to play Davis Cup the following weekend.

“It would be a fantastic position to be in. Reaching a Wimbledon final is an incredibly hard thing to do so if I was to be in that position in three or four months time I’d be delighted with that. Obviously it’s a quick turnaround but this is also a very quick turnaround, going from here to LA to prepare for the stretch from Indian Wells to Miami.”

The Americans left town devastated. Isner, who looked all week as if he had been told that being 6ft 10in was illegal in Scotland, said: “This one’s on me. When you look at this match-up on paper, my loss on Friday put us in a huge hole. It’s so disappointing for me. I certainly tried my best. It’s going to stick with me for a while. I feel like I let us down this week. It’s a terrible feeling.”

The USA captain, Jim Courier, was more robust in defeat and bridled visibly when it was suggested his job might be in jeopardy after two successive Davis Cup losses to Great Britain. “You’ve got to cheer up, man. Seriously,” he told his inquisitor.

While team camaraderie clearly played a part for Great Britain, Murray might have properly landed Inglot in it during an offhand remark in a post-match television interview about the doubles player having “a girlfriend here” to celebrate with – and blushed mightily when Inglot reminded him he already had “a girlfriend back home”.

Apart from that, the weekend went as well as could have been expected.