MURRAY THRIVES IN DAVIS CUP CAULDRON
‘Panto villain’ Murray fired by feisty crowd and spat with umpire
ANDY MURRAY levelled the Davis Cup Final for Great Britain 1-1 against Belgium, despite a row over the Ghent crowd refusing to keep quiet during points. He warned: ‘It is a good atmosphere and it is going to be tough.’
IT will not concern Andy Murray that he was cast in the role of pantomime villain last night by the boisterous Belgian crowd at the Davis Cup final.
With a Celtic yell to his own supporters, displaying the spirit of defiance on which he thrives, he ignored the censure of the umpire for swearing and the frenzied assembly at the Flanders Expo to level the match at 1-1.
That was ultimately achieved with some comfort against Ruben Bemelmans, although concluding the 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 victory was harder than the scoreline looked.
It came only after being docked a point for an audible obscenity following an official warning that he had not heard owing to the cacophony from the stands that followed every rally.
‘I literally had not idea about the first warning because of the crowd noise, so I am surprised the umpire could hear what I saying,’ observed Murray at the end of a long day when nerves frayed among players, captains and officials.
‘That’s why I went up to him. I didn’t think the crowd crossed the line, to be honest. But as the server, I’m not going to serve when the crowd are making any noise because it’s off-putting. I’m experienced enough to not allow it to bother me. I try to use it to my advantage as much as I can.’
Amid aggravated exchanges with the chair and warnings to both sides, Murray came through against a flashy left-handed opponent with a large box of tricks.
The crowd may have hissed and booed and the Scot may have lost control of his tongue, but in the end it was a more comfortable win than the one registered earlier by his opposite number, Belgian No 1 David Goffin.
If Murray had lost it would truly have been a Black Friday for the British, but he successfully guided his team to the safe harbour of the expected overnight scoreline.
This afternoon Great Britain can put themselves within one match of the title if Murray and his brother Jamie can win the doubles against Steve Darcis and, most likely, Goffin.
Given the far greater familiarity of the siblings, you would expect it to be one of the easier rubbers they have secured in this year’s campaign, and surely easier than the stomach- churning doubles encounters against France and Australia in the last eight and then the semi-finals.
If the Murrays prevail it will be the 10th Davis Cup point out of 10 that Andy has secured in 2015, the latest being against Bemelmans.
Ranked 108, Bemelmans was thrown in to produce his flashy brand of tennis and hold Darcis back for the weekend. He was playing professional league tennis in France last week, while Murray other members of the world’s top eight were in the global spotlight at the O2 Arena.
You would not have spotted that difference in preparation during spells of this match, especially in the feisty third set, which also saw Belgian captain Johan van Herck involved in an angry finger-wagging exchange with match referee Soren Friemel courtside.
GB captain Leon Smith also got involved, trying to stand up for his player after the point penalty for swearing. What had frustrated Murray was the amount of time he was having to wait to serve until the crowd calmed down.
But as we have seen many times before, adversity only served to spur him on, and by the time he left the court the crowd were in no doubt regarding how serious he is about winning the Davis Cup this weekend.
‘I thought Andy was very good in handling it all again,’ said Smith. ‘The crowd was much what we expected.’
Bemelmans tried to attack the second serve and repeatedly used the drop shot to keep his opponent on the hop. His touch was deft and the tactic often successful against a player with a habit of employing it himself.
It helped wipe out an early break secured by Murray that had suggested this would an entirely routine affair. And it did look that way when he got ahead to take the first set and then broke twice to clinch the second comfortably.
Goaded by the crowd, many of whom had taken on refreshment in the vast bars constructed in the neighbouring halls, Murray resorted to some industrial language and umpire Carlos Ramos docked him a point in the fifth game of the third set, shortly after which breaks were swapped.
But Murray also got a missed serve back due to crowd noise, under Davis Cup rules. Bemelmans forced a set point at 5-4 but this got the Scot so cross that he pulled out his best form, saving it with a service winner and then reeling off the next three games.
That delivered the point for GB. The British crowds do not always like it when he gets angry, but they certainly did not mind on this occasion.