Oh well that's the end of another Davis cup tie at the Braehead arena, and for all we know it could well be the last, but time will tell on that. But this crucial tie which if they would win would see Great Britain go into a world group play-off was crucial for them, as they took on their most potentially stern opposition yet, Belgium.
And here is where the GB team truly met their match, as the Belgium team were more than a match for the Brits, and if you look at their line-up they have two singles players in the top 100, with Olivier Ruchus and Steve Darcie. And in this tie we were not only without Andy Murray, we were without James Ward as well, so things weren't looking especially good for team GB, however we did have the hero of the last tie, Dan Evans step in and new addition Josh Goodall, who has had recent success in the Challenger level events, so here is a bit more on how things went over the 3 day tie.
On the first day, GB first off faced in usual tradition, reverse singles rubbers, with the No.1 brit player playing the away Belgian No.2 player, so that was Josh Goodall vs Steve Darcie. This was actually a pretty tight close match, with Goodall coming in and serving well, as he took the opening set on a tiebreak, however Darcie soon found his range and went on to take the 2nd set, and pretty soon went on to close out the match in 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. It marked the first defeat for Great Britain, but things at this point didn't look so bad as it was just the first rubber, and Dan Evans soon took on the Belgium No.1, Olivier Ruchus, who is a well established veteran on the men's tour and has had many years experience on the Davis cup. However things didn't look too good for GB here, although Dan like Josh, did put in a very good performance, again he took the opening set, and after being 1 set all, it went to a 3rd set tiebreak where Dan had a chance to go 2 sets to 1 up, but at a crucial set point, his forehand went slightly wide. However without the benefit of Hawkeye (i.e. the eletronic system that tells whether a ball is out or not) Dan had to rely on the judgment of the umpire, but by the looks of things his return was in, nonetheless as a result he endured the loss of the 3rd set and in the 4th, despite Dan being at one point a break up, lost the lead, and Rocuhus got the crucial break to hand Belgium their 2nd win of the day in 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-4. Ending the first day trailing 2-0 was not looking good for Great Britain.
On the second day however things improved as the doubles team Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins took to the court against the Belgium doubles team, David Goffin and Ruben Bemalmens. With Flemo and Hutch being ranked as the World No.10 in the doubles, they naturally were the favourites to win, but they did come up against some stern opposition by the plucky Belgian team, as they took the first set. In the 2nd set, Flemo and Hutch got a break, but at 5-3, with a chance to serve for the set, they were broken, however at 6-5, on Belgium's service, team GB got the break to level the match, and from then on it was the world class doubles team that took control and secured a much needed first win in 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. With Great Britain trailing 1-2 at this point, it was vital that they got a chance to level the tie on Sunday, which is were I came in, or attended at least (I wasn't on the team that's for sure!).
Soooo on the final day (Easter Sunday, Happy Easter by the way!!), it was down to the singles players to decide who won the tie, so first up we had Josh Goodall who played the young David Goffin, who stood in for Olivier Rochus who had suffered cramp and was deemed unfit to play. And despite a bravely fought effort from Goodall, it was all in vain, as Goffin, who is ranked about a 120 places higher than he, showed just why he is that, and sealed the Davis cup tie for Belgium in straight sets winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. And in the dead rubber, the hero of the last tie, Dan Evans, came out and played against Ruben Bemelmans, and obviously feeling the disappointment of defeat, Dan wasn't able to come up with the inspirational performance he did last time, and dropped his serve in both sets, handing the single break that Ruben needed in each set, to deny GB's consolation prize, winning in 6-4, 6-4, and the final tie scoreline reading an overwhelming 4-1 in Belgium's favour.
Well it really has to be said overall it was a disappointing weekend for the GB team, and that they certainly didn't get the result we had all hoped for. But to be honest the odds were firmly stacked against them right from the start, as they were minus their best player and minus James Ward as well. And that brings me to say a little about GB's best player, Andy Murray, who once again decided not to play for Great Britain in the Davis Cup, and I felt he really let the team down badly by choosing not to play. Davis Cup in the past has always been a special event for nations worldwide and its been a great tradition, and even the other top players, such as Rafa, Roger and Novak play their part in Davis Cup, so its a great pity that Andy hasn't done the same. And without Andy, the Great Britain team will forever flounder, and will struggle to get back into the World Group, and if he had played, they certainly would have been the winners today, but such as it is, they weren't. However to be fair to Andy, Davis Cup always arrives at a difficult time in the tennis calendar, as he has been preparing for the upcoming clay court season just now, and its understandable that Andy would want to commit himself to that just now instead, but at the same time its just a disappointment that he chose not to pitch in when GB needed it the most, especially when they were so close to getting back into the World Group.
And this brings me to the problem with the current Davis GB cup team, the singles players ranked below Andy simply aren't good enough to take on the world class players, who continually play in the men's ATP tour throughout the year. Players like Dan Evans and Josh Goodall mainly play in Challenger events, and today we both saw them struggle, Josh particularly, who to be fair played today probably about as well as he could under the pressure of the event, but he struggled to hold his serve, and despite breaking Goffin's serve in the 3rd set, he couldn't consolidate the break, which cost him and the team. In the first day however Goodall and Evans did show their potential, and they both played really good tight matches, and despite all that, they have nothing to be ashamed of and played about as well as they could. But they aren't world class players, and that is the big problem, and that's what the GB team is lacking in Andy's absence.
As for the hero of the last tie, Dan Evans given the right frame of mind and form, on his day, he can be terrific as we saw at the last Davis Cup tie, where he put in a terrific performance against the Slovak Republic, but today he fell well short of the mark. But again Dan was playing a dead rubber match and naturally he would have felt a bit deflated by his team's loss, which would have made it harder for him to try and win the match. And in fact I do wish that the Great Britain team captain, Leon Smith, put Dan Evans on against David Goffin in the crucial rubber, instead of Josh Goodall, as just maybe he could have won it, but that's not to say Goodall would have won the last one, in fact most likely not, but at least the scoreline might have been 3-2 instead of 4-1. James Ward also despite his absence and with the greatest of respect, is very much hot and cold on the court, as he too lacks the consistency in playing well, and he lost his last two rubbers in the Slovak Republic tie, and most likely would have lost here too.
And that's another big difference between the men's team in the Davis cup and the ladies team for the Fed Cup, is that the women have higher ranked players. Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong are both ranked in the top 100 (62 and 72 respectively), whereas Heather Watson and Laura Robson are ranked just outside the top 100, and they are about to go into the stage that the men's team hoped to go into, the world group play offs. And with Judy Murray as their team captain backing them, they promise to do very well, and so far as team they have been very effective. In fact Eurosport will show coverage of their next tie later in the month against Sweden, so I will definitely give that a watch.
So to sum it all up Great Britain's defeat was simply due to Belgium having the better singles players, and that's it. Without Andy Murray there was no way that Great Britain could have pulled off the win, but if he did play then it would be a different story, and a different post I would be making just now. But what's done is done, and despite it all, Great Britain in Andy's absence, played about as well as they could have given the circumstances, even though it wasn't enough to get the win. And the Belgium team definitely do deserve credit for their performance this weekend, as their team played very well indeed, and for once as the away team, they brought a team of outside supporters to the arena, who were quite vocal as well in their support and they gave the usual GB suspects (from Sterling uni) a run for their money, complete with beating drums as well as chanting!
Sooooo that's that, another Davis Cup tie over with, and unfortunately we didn't get the result we had all hoped for, but given the very tough opposition it was to be expected, nonetheless, Dan Evans and Jason Goodall did acquit themselves pretty well this weekend. And despite GB's loss today, they will remain in the Africa/Europe Group I, but whether or not they will play next time at the Braehead arena or not is uncertain. Given the fact that they won their previous ties, that was why they were able to host the them there, but if they lose, then it might change things and they may have to play away from home. Another thing that is for sure is that the GB team will not play again this year in the Davis Cup, which is a real bummer because I was hoping to see more live tennis, but that's the way it goes if they lose. Hopefully next year, Andy Murray will be able to commit more to the event, although his attendance at the Davis Cup has always been very patchy in the past, perhaps if he gets that highly elusive first slam, maybe he can commit himself more in the future, but who knows. However in the meantime the Great Britain team deserve a great deal of credit, in getting back into the Africa/Europe Group I, as does Leon Smith who up until now remained unbeaten in his tenure as the team captain.
Well that's all for now, more tennis posts to follow once the clay court season get's under way, with the men's next 1000 Masters series tournament being the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, with all the top names playing except Roger Federer for some reason. Hmmmm. Anyway that promises to be really good, so that's it the now.
Byeeee!
P.S. The title of the post actually is a rather obscure reference to Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where the two-headed character, Zaphod Beeblebrox exclaims "Belgium, man, Belgium!" when dangling from a precipice at one point in an episode, as Belgium is described as one of the worst words you can say in a dire situation. But I don't mean any disrepect to the Belgians of course, but it just fitted the theme of the post.:-)
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