Flagwaving goodbye with another win
GB succeed in format send-off
Boos rang out around the Emirates Arena before the start of this last day of Davis Cup play as we have come to know it.
It was the stadium announcer mentioning the changes to the historic competition’s structure that sparked the displeasure, at a venue that has witnessed some of GB’s finest performances since the war.
This was not to be the only note of discord, as Great Britain finished off Uzbekistan in slightly anticlimactic fashion to close a long chapter in the event’s 118-year history.
Cameron Norrie put behind him his torrid experience of Friday night’s agonising five-setter — when he lost to second string Jurabek Karimov — by making short work of another little-known opponent, sanjar Fayziev, 6-2, 6-2, 6-0. It put the home side 3-1 up and caused the abandonment of the dead rubber that was due to feature Dan Evans.
some of the crowd were clearly not happy with that, either, having had only one hour and 53 minutes of tennis. It was a sharp contrast to the events of Friday, which had gone on well into the evening.
Norrie’s path had been smoothed by the late withdrawal of Uzbekistan’s one truly high-class player, world No 60, Denis Istomin, due to an ankle injury. The old Davis Cup went out very much with a whimper rather than a bang.
Now it is on to the brave new world for the competition fashioned by the International Tennis Federation in partnership with the Kosmos marketing group, headed by Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique.
This weekend’s victory means that Great Britain will be seeded for the new play-off round next February, the winners from which will go on to play in an 18-nation event held over a week.
It could help, but not necessarily. If GB are drawn at home, Manchester or Brighton are potential hosts for the match.
It is conceivable that Leon smith’s team could get one of the two wildcards into the finals week that bypass the qualifying round, although these might go to serbia and switzerland, teams of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
Their allocation is a vexing question and as smith pointed out: ‘It’s difficult to have objective criteria. I’m interested to see how they do it and their justification for who they give the wildcards to. We’d be a strong candidate based on the last three or four years in the competition, and how we’ve hosted ties.’
of the coming changes, he said: ‘What’s happened has happened. The vote has gone ahead and we will embrace this next challenge because we want to be part of it and see what the finals are like.’
The coming format will be different, played over two days featuring five best-of-three-set rubbers. Those days will be a Friday and a saturday, with the doubles expected to be the first contested on the second day.
There are still plenty of aspects that are unclear. Madrid is the favourite to be announced as host city for the finals week, with matches taking place at two, or possibly even three different venues around the city.
The date is still not known with Pique and his backers facing a battle to carve out the september slot in the calendar that they now desire. The original plan was to have it in November after the ATP Finals at the 02 Arena, but the players have said this is less than satisfactory, interrupting an already brief off-season.
Either way, it is going to look very different to 1900, when Great Britain first faced off against the UsA in a challenge match organised by Dwight Davis at
longwood Cricket Club in Boston.
The Davis Cup has gone on to become, by nations competing, the world’s largest annual sporting event.
The effect that competing for a team can have on a player has been vividly demonstrated this year by norrie, whose Glaswegian father made a trip from the family home in new Zealand to be here.
He performed heroically against Spain on his debut in February, but was crippled by nerves on Friday as he tried to finish off Karimov after leading by two sets.
Yesterday, he looked nervous at the start when tackling istomin’s stand-in, broken in his opening service game.
Gradually, however, he began to play more expansively against the world no 516, and showed why he has risen to 70 in the world rankings, and why he is reckoned to be one of the best players to have emerged from the American college system in the last ten years.
‘i’m extremely proud,’ said norrie. ‘i’d like to thank the crowd. You were awesome, it’s been an incredible weekend in Glasgow. And thanks to my dad for staying put in his seat.
‘Thanks to all the team, and big congrats to the Uzbek team. it was a first home tie for me and i’m very proud.
‘i was nervous coming into the tie but the crowd got me through it. i learned a lot this weekend and i’m proud of the team.’
norrie cruised home in the end, but neither he nor evans, may play next year if both Andy Murray and Kyle edmund, who skipped this tie, are back on duty.