Ageing Andy gutted home sign-off will mean nothing
ANDY MURRAY admits he doesn’t know if today will be his final competitive match in Scotland – he just wishes it could be more than a dead rubber.
Great Britain’s defeat to The Netherlands on Friday night confirmed their exit from the Davis Cup, having lost to the USA earlier in the week, and today’s match with Kazakhstan in Glasgow will count for nothing.
That won’t stop the crowds flocking to the Emirates Arena in the hope of seeing Murray, 35, in action.
In the wake of Friday’s close defeat with Joe Salisbury to Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middlekoop, former world No.1 Murray cut a dejected figure and admitted that motivation for a match with nothing at stake will hardly get the competitive juices flowing.
“I have not met a player that loves playing dead rubbers and dead matches,” he said. “Yeah, it’s difficult to get motivated.
“Obviously the way that we have lost these two matches as well makes that even tougher.
“It’s a slight flaw with this format in that you have essentially, on the final day, no tennis.
“Well, there’s tennis, but it’s kind of dead, irrelevant, the results of it. That’s what brings the energy and the passion I think from the fans and the players.
“I wish we were still alive on Sunday.”
Murray, who played his 50th Davis Cup tie on Friday, admitted he doesn’t know how many more cracks he’ll get at the World Cup of tennis.
Despite this hugely disappointing week, captain Leon Smith has quality players in the shape of Cam Norrie, Dan Evans and new young star Jack Draper available – with Kyle Edmund on the way back from injury.
And in the doubles, Salisbury and Neal Skupski are world No.1 and No.3 respectively, even if Smith hasn’t played them together this week.
The Scot went with the Murray-Salisbury partnership that did well at the Olympics and, although they played well, they lost both matches.
Murray added: “I think our games complement each other pretty well.
“But I know when you lose, it’s easy to say – and I’m thinking the same thing right now – should I have played or should Neal have played or whatever?
“When you get to my age, I don’t know how many opportunities I’ll get to still be part of this team.”
While Murray was facing Davis Cup dejection, he admitted that the news of Roger Federer’s (below) retirement was another sad day for tennis.
He said: “Obviously he was an amazing player. I was lucky to get to compete against him in some of the biggest matches, in the biggest tournaments, on the biggest stages. At the time I probably didn’t appreciate it as much but now, looking back, it’s pretty amazing.
“It’s incredible what he achieved and also what Rafa and Novak have done.
“It’s a sad, sad day for the sport again.”