THIS WAS THE MURRAYS’ FINEST HOUR

With spirit as well as skill, the brothers stuck together and put Britain in control

THEY stuck together yesterday, like brothers should. Jamie and Andy Murray stuck together when it felt as if everyone was against them, just as it often did when they were trying to make it as kids and the tennis establishment treated them as outsiders.

When they came from behind to beat David Goffin and Steve Darcis in an unbearably tense four-set doubles contest, the Murrays put Great Britain firmly in control of this Davis Cup final and on the verge of winning the trophy for their nation for the first time since the halcyon days of Fred Perry and Bunny Austin in 1936.

It was their finest hour. There can be no doubt about that. As an individual, Andy has a US Open men’s singles title and a Wimbledon triumph to his name but he won those alone. This 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory was a triumph for his family as well as his country. It was the Murrays against Belgium. The Murrays against the world. Just like it always has been.

They won it through fortitude as well as skill. They won it through spirit in the teeth of a wildly partisan Belgian crowd.

Andy was immense, as he has been throughout this magical, unlikely run to the final. The triumph belonged every bit as much to Jamie as it did to Andy. There were times when the elder brother seemed as if he might crumple under the pressure. It was a fierce pressure, too, much fiercer than when he was playing with John Peers and reaching the men’s doubles finals at Wimbledon and the US Open this year.

When he is playing with Andy, the comparisons are unavoidable and Goffin and Darcis targeted Jamie. They targeted his serve, they pounced upon his chip-and-charge returns, they did everything they could to destroy his confidence. Jamie bent but he did not break.

Instead, when Goffin and Darcis took the lead for the first time in the match early in the third set, Jamie started to produce his best tennis just when it mattered most.

Andy was magnificent throughout. He served superbly. His touch at the net was sublime, his mastery of angles and depth quite mesmerising. Given that his strengths are supposed to lie in his power and his relentlessness from the baseline, that is quite an accolade. But when Britain reached match point, it was Jamie who found himself standing at the baseline, the ball in his hand, preparing to serve. It was a second serve, too, so some of the Belgians in the crowd, desperate to try one last ploy, chanted ‘Double, double, double’.

The crowd kept jeering as Jamie prepared to serve. A few klaxons sounded. The mayhem lingered. Jamie served anyway and when the return flew into the net, he and Andy ran to each other and shared a hug. Andy refused to celebrate. He pointed out there was still a long way to go before the cup is theirs.

Still, what a turnaround they have wrought in the fortunes of British tennis. Only five years ago Britain were losing to Lithuania in group two of the Europe-Africa Zone at the Vitas Gerulaitis Tennis Centre in Vilnius. Lithuania had only three world-ranked players, all teenagers.

Britain was the joke of world tennis, the great under-achievers, the dissolute squanderers of all that Lawn Tennis Association cash. It was unimaginable that we might ever win the Davis Cup. It was something for another lifetime.

Then everything changed. Britain got a new captain, Leon Smith, an old friend of Andy’s. Smith helped the team to gel and, crucially, prompted Andy to redouble his commitment to the team. Jamie emerged as one of the top doubles players in the world and Britain began to climb back towards the top.

They are not there yet, of course, but their doubles victory yesterday was a giant step. They are having to do it the hard way here, playing the home team and their fans, who are making sure they do not go quietly.

One extravagantly inebriated older gentleman, who kept shushing loudly as Murray prepared to serve during his singles victory over Ruben Bemelmans on Friday, had to be ejected from the arena.

The first signs that Belgian patriotism could play a real part in this final came when Goffin sealed his comeback victory against Kyle Edmund on Friday.

This felt like a release. It felt as if a nation that had spent the last week waiting for the worst, watching troops on the streets of its capital and armoured cars guarding its

97 Matches Andy Murray has played in 2015 — winning 77 of them — and he also found time to get married

hotels, had suddenly come rushing back out into the light.

Momentum is a terrible thing when it turns against you in sport and the Murrays spent yesterday’s epic desperately trying to hold it at bay. It was a thrilling battle that was always going to be decided as much on nerve as on skill and endeavour.

The atmosphere in the arena was even more raucous than it had been on Friday. Andy’s nerve was never in doubt, of course, and he stepped up straight away, winning his first two service games to love. Jamie, however, was struggling with the enormity of the occasion, beginning his service game with a double fault.

Andy stayed solid, though. He produced a beautiful stop-volley when Belgium were threatening at 4-4 in the opening set and saved a break point. Reprieved, Britain forced a break point of their own in the next game and Andy won a quick-fire volley exchange with Darcis to seal the set.

In the second set, though, things went awry. Jamie was broken in the third game, serving a double fault to give the Belgians a third break point and then putting a volley into the net. Rock music blared. The arena went wild. Goffin and Darcis sensed momentum again.

Jamie was still struggling. He was hitting too many unforced errors and his approaches often gave

Darcis, in particular, too much time to unleash his monster forehand. Britain could not break back and Belgium levelled when Goffin put away an improvised volley.

For the first time, the Murrays wobbled. Jamie’s serve was broken to 15 in the third game of the third set and the Belgians had the lead. The crowd was beside itself. The music pumped out. The fans danced and swayed. Goffin and Darcis began to think they were invincible.

Their elation did not last. Now, when it mattered most, Jamie began to find his form and rediscover his belief. Britain forced a break point and it was Jamie who won it with the decisive volley. The Murrays were level again. They did not look back. They broke again to lead 4-2 in the third set and even though Jamie lost his serve again, Britain broke straight back once more and closed out the set 6-3.

The Belgians were not finished yet, though. They threatened Andy’s serve early in the fourth set but he responded with one of the shots of the game, a magnificent topspin lob that left both Darcis and Goffin flat-footed. Jamie survived more break points on his serve but the brothers broke again in the penultimate game.

The stage was set for Jamie. He served it out. If Andy can summon one more victory today against Goffin in the first of the reverse singles, Jamie will have a golden place in the history of British tennis, too.

When it was over, the two men were asked how reassuring it was to play in a match like that with your brother. ‘It’s probably a lot more reassuring for me than for Andy,’ Jamie said with a smile.

Everyone in the room laughed except Andy. He didn’t like the joke. He has heard Jamie patronised too many times. ‘I trust him on a doubles court so much,’ Andy said. ‘Even if he started slowly, I knew he would get it going. I trust him. It’s not just because he’s my brother. It’s because he’s an exceptionally good tennis player.’