Murray Leads Great Britain to Davis Cup Title

Great Britain won its first Davis Cup title since 1936 over the weekend, winning three of the weekend’s first four matches to clinch the victory over host Belgium in Ghent.

With a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, Great Britain’s Andy Murray downed Belgium’s David Goffin 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 on Sunday afternoon to seal the deal for the Britons.

“It’s obviously an amazing feeling. I imagine it will take a few days before it really sinks in. But I probably haven’t been as emotional as that after a match that I’ve won,” said Murray. “I’ve been pretty upset having lost matches before, but I’d say that’s probably the most emotional I’ve been after a win.

It’s incredible that we managed to win this competition. I didn’t know that would ever me possible. It’s great.”

Murray called it the most emotional victory of his career, and he had a hand in all three of the British victories. After compatriot Kyle Edmund blew a two-set lead to Goffin in the opening singles match, Murray defeated Ruben Bemelmans 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 to even the final at 1-1.

The Glasgow, Scotland native then paired up with older brother Jamie Murray to defeat Goffin and Steve Darcis 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to take the 2-1 advantage. Needing one more victory to clinch the title, Murray beat Goffin in straight sets in Sunday’s first singles match to seal the deal.

“It has to be one of the best [British sporting] achievements of all-time,” said Great Britain captain Leon Smith of Murray’s performance. “It’s incredible for all of us to watch how he [Murray] has managed to win that many rubbers, that many wins, especially when you look back at the tie in France and also the Australia match, obviously [he was dealing with] a lot of fatigue, he managed to find a way through. It was absolutely incredible.

Murray has now won 11 straight Davis Cup matches, and became the first player since Pete Sampras for the United States in 1995 to win three live rubber matches in a Davis Cup final.

With the win in hand for Great Britain, the fifth and final match of the final between Bemelmans and Edmund was not played.

Despite the defeat, Goffin was proud of how he and his compatriots fought in playing in Belgium’s first Davis Cup final in more than 100 years.

“I think it was a good match, but Andy was really solid today. I gave everything. I have no regrets. I think after a match like this, and a tie, we can all be proud,” said Goffin. “Even if we had lost the tie today, we played an unbelievable season in Davis Cup. I think Andy and Great Britain deserves the trophy today.”