All set for battle of the brothers
But fans might not see Murrays versus Bryans showdown
NO Davis Cup match would be complete without some kidology, and some of that duly surrounds the match that everyone in Glasgow wants to see this weekend.
Andy and Jamie Murray versus world champions Bob and Mike Bryan tomorrow looks to be the pivotal rubber of the World Group first-round knockout match between Great Britain and America, which begins t his afternoon at t he Emirates Arena.
Yet the home side were yesterday trying to play down expectations that it would happen. Middlesex’s Dom Inglot was officially named to play with Jamie Murray while the f ormer Wimbledon champion insisted it was ‘unlikely’ he would play on Saturday.
The smart money, however, would be on a clash of two pairs of siblings as the emotional centrepiece of what ought to be a fascinating three days. If, as expected, the match stands at 1-1 by tonight then GB captain Leon Smith will surely opt to throw in his trump card against the world’s leading pair — however unlucky that would be for Inglot, who has actually beaten them twice this year with Romania’s Florin Mergea.
The Murrays against the Bryans would have so many ingredients: brothers versus brothers, Wimbledon champions versus Wimbledon champions, the ultimate doubles specialists versus a supreme singles player. SNP versus USA? Let’s not go there.
Playing America in the Davis Cup is not what it was 20 years ago, but there is still a cachet about the fixture that was the original challenge match when the competition was invented in 1900.
It is mostly the homecoming of the Murrays that will ensure that the indoor arena next door to Celtic Park will be noisily packed to the rafters when the match begins. Jamie, who has had a cold, yesterday declared himself fully fit.
The doubles will see a crescendo reached, and it is notable that one of the game’s most experienced referees, Stefan Fransson, has been allocated to the match to ensure that everything remains as orderly as possible.
As Jamie pointed out, the crowd will be ‘full of people we’ve known our whole life, a lot of familiar faces’.
Andy acknowledged that part of the task for him will be to control his emotions over the three days: ‘The beginning of the matches are normally where I find it would affect me most in Davis Cup. When you come out, the national anthem, the crowd getting right into it at the beginning. Yes, it’s an emotional experience. And sometimes at the beginning of the matches you can be a bit fired up, amped up, whatever you want to call it.
‘That tends to subside after the first 15 or 20 minutes. Then you just get down to trying to concentrate on trying to win the match.’
The last time a significant American team came to these parts it was the Ryder Cup five months ago at Gleneagles. That ended in defeat and recrimination for the visitors, but their chances of success this time are greater and they are marginally the favourites.
Not as much as they would be in times when they could call upon the likes of their now captain, Jim Courier, whose relatively shallow pool of players means t his will draw scant attention back home.
His biggest call has been to pick world No 47 Donald Young as his second singles player, who could find himself playing a deciding rubber against GB No 2 James Ward on Sunday afternoon.
Young, now 25, was once the youngest- ever junior world No 1 and has found some good form in the past month. But his achievements have never matched his natural gifts and his sometimes flaky temperament will be tested as never before if he faces the lower ranked Ward with the match still alive. S o me of War d ’ s best performances have come in the Davis Cup, such as when he beat America’s Sam Querrey last year.
‘I am patriotic,’ said Ward. ‘ You have seen that in the past and you will see it here.’
He begins today by playing American No 1 John Isner, who he beat in an exhibition match j ust pr io r to t he Australian Open. This tie being close presupposes that Andy Murray can shake off his so metimes erratic post-Melbourne form and win both his singles matches.
Courier was keen to emphasise that this is not a formality. ‘Andy’s one of the toughest nuts in the business, he has great offensive and defensive skills,’ he said.
‘That’s what has made him such a great player, but everyone is beatable. He’s had some matches this year where he hasn’t been as crisp as in Australia.’
As ever it is the younger Murray who will bear the greatest burden, with GB trying to pull off its first home win at this elite level of the competition since 1986.