As Saturday dawned around the globe, this biggest of annual international sporting events was confirming some of the nations that would join the World Group in 2017.
First was 28-time champion Australia, which whitewashed Slovakia, though perhaps with less ease as anticipated: a fourth-set tie-break resolved the doubles rubber.
Next was Japan, in altogether faster style. Such is the rising talent at Japan’s disposal that they did not play their star, world No5 Kei Nishikori, in the singles but still took a 2-0 lead. Nishikori did play doubles, though, and he and Yuichi Sugita lost only six games to the Ukraine.
Spain, even without Rafael Nadal who made a last-minute exit to rest his wrist, can draw on seemingly endless depths of star players, and sure enough Feliciano Lopez and David Ferrer put their nation in a dominant position over India after day one. With Lopez and partner Marc Lopez, the Roland Garros champions and semi-finalists at the US Open, lined up for the doubles, the odds did not look good for India.
Belgium won a tight five-setter in its doubles rubber to seal the 3-0 win over Brazil, though on the other side of the globe, Canada would have to wait until the rest of the world was done before trying to seal the World Group deal with a doubles win over Chile.
But in a sunny Glasgow, it would not be until the very last minute—well the very last hour—that the doubles line-up would be confirmed.
In short, would Andy Murray, who lost the longest match he had ever played against Juan Martin del Potro last evening, as well as suffering the emotional battering of a family bereavement, be fit to join brother Jamie for doubles by 2pm?
The answer arrived on the dot of 1pm: Yes he would. Shortly afterwards, he was warming up, to the delight of the fans who had taken their seats early.
More of a surprise, though, came from Argentina. Few expected del Potro to play doubles when captain Daniel Orsanic had a strong and fresh combo in Federico Delbonis and Leonardo Mayer at his disposal, and needed only one more match-win—with del Potro was the clear favourite to beat Kyle Edmund come Sunday.
But he was out practising well before the announcement came through, and sure enough, del Potro would face Murray fewer than 18 hours after their marathon singles effort.
It was an intriguing decision, for del Potro had only played with Leonardo Mayer once. That was in Indian Wells this year, del Potro’s second tournament back after a year away following his third wrist surgery. Mayer, too, was an unknown quantity, having missed a stretch of 2016 with a shoulder injury—though he had some doubles wins this season with other partners.
In contrast, the Brothers Murray have played and won five doubles rubbers together, a core component of Great Britain’s run to the championship last year. On any ordinary day, they would be favoured to win, but on a weekend that coincided with a family funeral and followed Andy Murray’s most successful, but most exhausting, season, it was far from a given. He had, in short, looked on his last legs during his media obligations late yesterday.
However, in the first set, the words that sprang to mind were “like taking candy from a baby”.
The British duo, with their big and varied serving, profligate net skills, and all-court tactical awareness, swamped the Argentines immediately. If it wasn’t an intercept by one Murray after his brother’s serve, it was an angled drop, a lob or a fierce drive through whichever hapless Argentine happened to be at the net. And for all his power and talent, del Potro is not a natural mover around the net.
It helped, too, that the Murrays marry a rightie and a leftie, as so many successful doubles combos do: The Bryan brothers and Spain’s Lopez’s among them. It makes things doubly hard for the opposing team to settle into patterns or rhythms.
One break was followed by another for a 5-0 lead. Just 26 minutes down and Great Britain was a set up, 6-1, 26 points to 12.
But there was a distinct shift in momentum in the second set. Now Andy Murray’s serve went off the boil—indeed after a service game each, the Murray’s had got only 5/13 first serves into play, and Andy Murray thumped two double faults in his, conceding a quick break and a 0-3 deficit.
That, combined with Mayer coming to life, making some fine net plays and slotting some glorious winners from his single-handed backhand, ensured a hold for 5-2. Both Argentines struck backhand return-of-serve winners to bring up set points in the eighth game, but eventually served it out, 6-3, after an hour and a quarter.
The fight for dominance swung to and fro in the third, with the Argentines defending four break points on the way to 3-3. But suddenly the boot was on the other foot, and del Potro fired a down-the-line winner on break point to break Andy Murray’s serve.
Still GB’s serving percentage was much lower than the Argentines’, but there was now a real intensity in their body language: They broke at the third attempt for 4-4, and did so again with a searing backhand winner from Andy Murray, 6-4.
It felt, now, as though the Murrays had this on their racket, and the Argentines were under pressure on their serve, saving a break point at the start of the fourth.
The British serving was on the rise, and though del Potro hung on to his serve for 4-4, it was Mayer who looked vulnerable, and sure enough, the Murray’s punished him with great returns to break to love: And that was the set and match, 6-4.
It was a truly emotional British duo that spoke on court afterwards, both congratulating the other on their performances—and both tearing up in the process. As elder brother Jamie put it, embracing Andy, “It gets a bit emotional talking about my brother when we’re playing at home.”
So Great Britain are still alive, but Andy Murray has to come back at 1pm tomorrow and beat Guido Pella to give Kyle Edmund—or perhaps Dan Evans—a shot at del Potro.
However, Smith put it thus: “Everyone is tired—it’s that stage of the season. It’s the same for their team, but if there’s somebody you want going out to get the first rubber on the board, it’s Andy Murray.”
Note: Rafael Nadal subbed into the doubles with Marc Lopez in place of Feliciano Lopez to win the third rubber, taking Spain past India, 3-0.