ROLL UP FOR A RIVETING EPIC FULL OF EDGE AND DRAMA

THE PLAYERS will not spit at each other. You won’t hear a single offensive chant from the cheap seats. As for the fear of flares, well, you might as well search the 20,000-plus thronging to the Emirates Arena over the next three days for horseshoes and hand grenades.

Do not, however, make t he predictable mistake of interpreting good behaviour for a lack of passion. Don’t dare dismiss this Davis Cup tie as somehow less worthy, less real, than the scrapes and scuffles that keep football, in particular, at the forefront of the national sporting consciousness.

A head-to-head between great Britain and the original old enemy, the USA, with a quarter-final place at stake is not for the faint-hearted.

From the moment Andy Murray takes to the court f or today’s first singles match, until the final meaningful shot is played on Sunday, there will be a definite edge to both the atmosphere and the competition.

USA captain Jim Courier, a man who has been immersed in this team event for more years than he would care to point out, knows only too well that the occasion can make — or break — the best of players.

‘Why do players raise themselves for the Davis Cup?’ he began. ‘i think it is partly down to the energy that the players get from playing in an environment like we will have here, with a really passionate crowd.

‘Also, when they call “game United States” or “game great Britain”, it’s a very different feeling.

‘Some people rise to the occasion and some people shrink from it. But very rarely do players play normal in this situation, which makes it kind of fun to watch and see what is going to happen.

‘i think that is one of the important things about the competition, feeling the team camaraderie, feeling the pride, the responsibility of playing for your nation — and seeing how you manage that. Some people lift and some people fall.’

IF all players are subject to pressure on these occasions, it is not unfair to suggest that the Murray brothers will be the focal point for most expectation among the glasgow crowd.

For Andy and Jamie, the joy of playing Davis Cup — and possibly playing together i n tomorrow’s doubles, despite Britain’s no 1 playing down expectations of a late change to the line-up — is something they could never have dreamed of when, as kids, they crammed into a mini-bus to watch gB take on Slovenia in newcastle back in 1996.

Andy, asked if he and his elder sibling had ever reflected on how far they have come since those days, said: ‘i don’t think we have ever done that together. i do think about that from time to time, not necessarily just when a Davis Cup match is coming or at the Olympics or whatever.

‘For me, if i look back, getting to compete at the Olympics together two times — even though we might have liked to have done better — nobody would ever have expected that to have two players who grew up together playing tennis in Dunblane where there had never been any tennis players before.

‘Hopefully, there will be some more in the future but it is very unlikely that something like that would happen again. So we have been very lucky to get the opportunity to do that.’

JAMiE added: ‘For us now to be at that kind of level where Andy is basically doing what Tim Henman was doing for however many years, and i’m lucky enough to be in this tie, and to be doing it in Scotland as well, it is pretty amazing.

‘i think we are both really looking forward to seeing the crowds and feeding off that.

‘The Davis Cup is very different for us because we are obviously travelling 30 to 40 weeks a year by ourselves and playing for ourselves. Then for two or three weeks, we are all in it together. Everyone is as one. Everyone is doing their best for each other, whether that is on the court or off it.

‘You are going the extra mile for each other and we are all good mates. We get along well.’

if appearing relaxed counts for anything, all four gB players and their captain looked as cool as the other side of the pillow at yesterday’s courtside draw, an oddly-choreographed affair that confirmed Andy versus Donald Young as the first rubber of the tie… and not much else, given the rules allowing teams to change their lineups up to an hour before any match.

The Arena, a semi-regular home for basketball and athletics, last seen in all its finery when hosting the badminton at l ast s ummer’s Commonwealth games, looks as splendid as ever, the Saltire blue court nicely tying in with the Union Flag bunting along the back of the stands.

A fitting venue for a major sporting contest, summed up yesterday by international Tennis Federation president Francesco Ricci Bitti, who harked back to the origins of the event yesterday as he said: ‘Dwight Davis felt it was important to give individual players the opportunity to represent their countries. i think these values are still very relevant today. To play for your country is a responsibility, yes. But it’s a rewarding one.’