Two-time Wimbledon Champion Sir Andy Murray returned to Great Britain’s Davis Cup team this week against USA in Glasgow. Before the tie Murray had tried to galvanise his team in the wake of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. He said they could make their Queen proud by winning their group opener. A minute’s silence was held before play started and players wore black arm bands out of respect for the late monarch.
Great Britain were under pressure after the opening match as Dan Evens was beaten by Tommy Paul 6-4 4-6 6-4. Cameron Norrie therefore know he had to beat Taylor Fritz to keep GB in the tie. The British number one seemed out of sorts in the opening set before rallying in the second and eventually winning the match 2-6 7-6 (7-2) 7-5.
With the tie level it was left to the doubles match to decide the tie. Former World No 1 Andy Murray was selected to pair with Joe Salisbury against USA pairing Rajeev Ram & Jack Sock. By the time the doubles match stated the local time was 22:00. The players therefore had to battle with a late finish as the they played into the night.
After losing the first set Murray & Salisbury levelled the match in the second forcing a decider. The USA pairing finally won the match 5-7 6-4 7-5 with the local time approaching 01:00.
Speaking after the match, Murray said they late night finish was ‘inappropriate’. He stressed that it was not only far from ideal for the players but also the fans, ball kids & media who had to stay so late into the night.
Great Britain will now face the Netherlands and Kazakhstan in a bid to secure one of the top two group places required to progress.