Andy can cement his place alongside legendary Perry

THIS afternoon, on the last day of the longest and busiest season of his career, Andy Murray can again emulate British tennis hero Fred Perry.

He did it in the US Open of 2012 and at Wimbledon 2013. If he brings the same sangfroid to the court as he did yesterday, he will do it for a third year out of four.

An outstanding performance from David Goffin, or an unforeseen dip from the 28-year-old Scot amid what will again be a febrile atmosphere, is all that can prevent the completion of this most unlikely journey for the representatives of Wimbledon’s host nation.

Great Britain were 33-1 at the start of the season to win the Davis Cup but have now transformed themselves into heavy favourites.

The previous two days have brought with them a note of caution, however. What might have looked predictable matches have not turned out that way, from Kyle Edmund’s electric start against Goffin, to the unexpectedly stiff resistance mounted by the Belgians in the two rubbers that looked most beyond them.

Yet in the younger Murray, Britain have a competitive jewel and the player who is, by some distance, the finest produced by our island since the war.

Comparing eras as different as the Thirties and the present day is a fairly spurious exercise, but what seems impossible is that Murray will ever match or beat Perry’s eight Grand Slam titles. Nor will he manage to win the Davis Cup four times.

But then Perry never won an Olympic gold medal — he never had the chance — and his Davis Cup triumphs were achieved long before the enormous globalisation of the sport.

And if we look back at Perry in the team competition, he had more assistance than is available now to the No1 player. When Australia were beaten in 1936, his No2 singles player was Bunny Austin who was good enough to reach the final at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the following years.

Perry won a fifth and deciding rubber in the final — probably the most nerve-shredding task in tennis — when Australia were overcome, and that is surely not going to happen today.

Murray will face Goffin in the reverse singles at lunchtime, and will be buoyed by the memory of what came to pass in the first week of what has been a frenetic month for the British No1. It was 11am on a Wednesday morning in the third round of the Paris Indoor Masters, with many of the crowd still filing in, when he ruthlessly took apart Goffin 6-1, 6-0 in less than an hour.

True, it was on a hard court and not clay, and the highly skilled Belgian was so poor that he excused it as a bad day at the office which had little relevance. But the message from Murray then was clear as he bulldozed his way to victory with almost embarrassing ease: when we next meet, do not forget that this is what I can do to you.

The setting and support levels will be vastly different today to that semi-vacuum in the French capital, but Goffin will still have to find a way to hurt Murray.

The most likely is if the Scot has a poor serving day and the Belgian is able to seize on that. He has an excellent return and, if Murray starts leaving the ball short in the court, the world No16 is good enough to cause considerable damage.

The fact that he recovered from such an awful start against Edmund, and acquitted himself well despite losing in the doubles, may have stiffened his resolve.

And there is little question that the British team cannot leave it to the kind of fifth and deciding rubber that Perry could win. Belgium’s Steve Darcis has played four of them in his career and has won them all, including in the semi-final against Argentina. That kind of priceless experience will make it desperately difficult for Britain’s Edmund or James Ward.

The chances are that it will not come to that, because there has been no sign here that Murray has any intention of letting this golden opportunity slip.

In the 2015 campaign, he has clinched the fourth rubber and team victory against the USA’s John Isner, France’s Gilles Simon and Bernard Tomic, of Australia. They all played to a top-20 standard during those matches, and the Simon was indeed outstanding, going to within a point of a two-set lead.

The exertion of that match saw Murray collapse in a pool of tears at Queen’s. After what he will hope to be less drama, there is every chance that today’s outcome will have the same effect.