My favourite year
A golden era for British tennis
When the last ball is hit in Zagreb today, and Croatia (probably) become the new champions by beating Argentina, Great Britain’s reign on the Davis Cup throne will be over. But what a year it has been: comfortably the best 12 months for British tennis since the sport turned professional.
Andy Murray is, not for the first time, at the centre of a glittering array of results. For once, though, this was not a soliloquy but an ensemble performance.
The year started in brilliantly hectic fashion at the Australian Open, where the two Murray brothers, Johanna Konta and wheelchair athlete Gordon Reid were all still in contention going into the final four days. And it finished – appropriately enough – with the spoils of war at the O2 Arena in London, where Andy and Jamie Murray both received trophies as year-end world No 1s.
In between, Kyle Edmund more than halved his ranking from No 102 to No 45. Dan Evans, rabble-rouser and Solihull carouser, came storming through the field at an even greater rate, finishing at No 66. Even Marcus Willis, the surprise package of Wimbledon, managed at least three appearances in Hello! magazine.
So how did a serial underachiever like Great Britain become the envy of the tennis world? The Davis Cup is a good place to start, because team tennis – as coaches around the country are beginning to understand – can teach you more about yourself than any number of practice drills.
Even the very elite can benefit. Novak Djokovic’s elevation to serial grand slam champion began in 2011, the year after Serbia had claimed their first Davis Cup crown. And Murray has enjoyed a similar dividend this season, as witnessed by the relentlessness that carried him to 48 wins from his past 51 matches.
We used to talk about the triple Ms: Murray’s mental meanderings. But such lapses were unknown throughout October as he won 20 sets out of 20 in his tour of China. Did he develop this new discipline while explicitly representing his country? Murray suggested as much in the minutes after Great Britain’s victory in last year’s final in Ghent. “I need to learn from this weekend,” he said. “I made David [Goffin] work for every point.”
Leon Smith, the captain of that Davis Cup team, believes that Ghent “gave everyone such a positive feeling for 2016, a huge boost. You can see Andy’s qualities, how he is going to be such a great leader in whatever he does after tennis. I will move aside for him any day of the week.”
Yet much of Murray’s influence has been osmotic. In the words of Mark Petchey, Sky Sports analyst and former British No 1, “the players around him have seen his work ethic and it has rubbed off on them, no question. For me, his inspiration is the biggest factor behind this great year for British tennis. And the prospect of a Davis Cup tie has also helped Andy to refocus and move on after some tough defeats, particularly in 2015.”
The Davis Cup run cannot be credited – at least directly – for Konta’s extraordinary emergence as a pillar of the women’s game. But she is part of a second trend that has helped deliver this unprecedented gold rush.
In the case of Konta, Edmund and Evans, investment by the Roger Draper regime helped lay a solid base of technique. Then the money suddenly dried up, after the replacement of Draper by the more participation-driven Michael Downey at the start of 2014. Left to invest in their own careers, British players have woken up to the meaning of responsibility.
“Jo has always been a terrific athlete,” says Nick Lester, the BBC commentator who used to serve as Konta’s sometime hitting partner when she was ranked outside the top 100. “She just needed to find the right coaching set-up, someone who could help her with staying calm, and she did that when she linked up with Esteban Carril.
“The support from the Lawn Tennis Association – which might not have been available under this regime – gave her time to find the answers,” adds Lester. “You shouldn’t underestimate how much the coaches contribute, across the board. Mark Hilton was away for 10 straight weeks with Dan Evans this summer, which was a big commitment for a guy with a young family. Louis Cayer has always been a huge support.”
And thus we come full circle, as we so often do in tennis, to the first family of the British game. For it was Judy Murray who originally spotted Cayer, as he guided a doubles practice session in Monte Carlo, and urged Draper to recruit him.
It has proved an inspired signing, because Cayer – who also helped Andy Murray adjust his service motion at the end of last year – combines personal reticence with a savant-like gift for technique. Cricket-lovers might recognise him as a tennis racket-wielding version of Duncan Fletcher.
“I’m hugely impressed with the way Andy keeps developing his game,” says Smith, when asked about this latest upgrade. “With his second serve, some of it is technical but a lot is intention. Am I going to hit it with more speed? Am I prepared to take more risk? Now he isn’t on the defensive so much, he is in neutral quite a lot, which is great, because it puts him in a better position to work the points.
“There’s a bunch of stuff going on over the off season for all the boys, spearheaded by Andy. Dan Evans is going to be at IMG in Bradenton, Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot are going to be at IMG at Boca, then you have got Andy and Kyle in Miami. You can imagine what Andy’s pre-season is like, he will absolutely work his socks off and try to get better again.
“Now he is No 1 he has got to work out how to stay there, because it never stops.”
There may be no Davis Cup victory party for Smith and company this year. But after the highs and highs of 2016, who is to say that next season will not be even better?