2015 Davis cup final - Fred and Andy (again!)

OK!  So the Davis cup final weekend is now over and this post will cover the final itself and how the weekend's tennis went between the two teams in the final: Great Britain and Belgium, which took place in the city of Ghent in Belgium.

So without any further ado (or fuss) let's see how it went!

Right to kick off on Day 1 the first match was between Britain's No.2, Kyle Edmund and the Belgian No.1, David Goffin who took on each other to see who would get that first valuable tie point.  This was a debut match for Edmund who had never played in the Davis cup before but he was picked up the captain, Leon Smith, as his results on clay have been excellent this year having just recently won a challenger event on the red stuff.  But as for how Edmund would take on Goffin remained to be seen but he started off in a stunning way as he blasted the Belgian off the court with his raw power due to his powerful forehand and good serving, which saw Edmund race to a 5-0 lead, leaving Goffin befuddled.  However Goffin started to show some fight at the tail end of the set as he broke Edmund back once but Edmund then went on to close out the 1st set at the second time of asking.  In the 2nd set Kyle continued his barrage against Goffin as he overpowered the Belgian and sped to a double break and swiftly took a two set lead, which saw GB within touching distance of winning the first rubber.  However in the 3rd set Kyle's level started to drop as he started to tire physically and Goffin found his range and broke the young Brit twice to take the 3rd set and keep himself alive in the match.  And in the 4th set Kyle continued to be worn down as his inexperience of playing five set matches started to show and Goffin quickly grabbed the 4th set to level the match.  And after this in the deciding set Kyle had nothing left to give as his legs gave in and capitulated on serve which saw Goffin dish out a creamy bagel to his British opponent and complete his comeback after a lopsided 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 win, giving Belgium the 1-0 lead.

Well this was quite a remarkable start for Kyle Edmund as I'm sure no one was expecting him to race into a two set lead against a top 20 player in David Goffin, however unfortunately he was just unable to sustain his level over five sets and it cost him in the end.  As for Goffin well he showed his grit and got that much needed win on the board for Belgium otherwise it could have been ugly for them by the end of the first day.

As for the second match of the day, Andy Murray the British No.1 took on the nominated Belgian No.2, Ruben Bemelmans in what proved to be a tricky but entertaining encounter for Andy.  In the 1st set Andy broke his opponent swiftly but Bemelmans did show that he had silky net skills and on occassions even managed to out dropshot Andy!  In the 2nd set Andy again took the lead and a double break with it as he sped into a two sets to love advantage.  In the 3rd set however Bemelmans raised his game that bit more as he made life difficult for Andy and he imposed his game on the British No.1 a bit more and Andy was forced to even save a set point, which he did at 5-4.  However Andy went to hold serve and he broke the Belgian's serve and he went on to close out the match and level the tie at 1-1 with an entertaining 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 victory.

This takes us onto Day 2 which was the pivotal doubles day which ultimately whoever won that match would most likely go on to win the title.  And the match itself was between the Murray brothers: Jamie and Andy and David Goffin and Steve Darcis for the Belgian team.  The match itself was a tense and highly entertaining match which saw a close first set decided by a break to the Murrays as Andy swiftly converted a set point on the Belgian's serve to take the lead.  However in the 2nd set the Belgians fought back and they broke Jamie's serve to seize the initiative and ultimately they levelled the match at a set all.  In the 3rd set things started to look dicey for Murrays again as Goffin engineered an early break of serve to move ahead in the match for the first time.  However it was short lived as the Murrays broke back and they soon grabbed a break of their own to take the lead and a two sets to one lead.  And in the 4th set despite a couple of edgy games, Andy and Jamie held on and sealed the match with a double break, which saw a nervy Jamie get over the finish line to hand a much needed 2-1 advantage to GB with a hard fought 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 result.

There was no doubt that GB needed to win this match to give themselves the advantage and it was full credit to both Andy and Jamie that they were able to come through this one.  And surprisingly it was Andy who was the stronger player as he held a nervous Jamie together when he faltered and shockingly enough Andy did not drop serve once in the whole match and it was Jamie for a change that did!  But it was a great result and a much needed victory which could easily have gone the other way had Goffin and Darcis capitalised on their break in the 3rd set.

Anyway so this takes us onto the final day which saw the crucial 4th rubber match, which could well have been the decisive one as the British and Belgian No.1s took on each other: Andy Murray and David Goffin.  On paper this match looked to be a fairly straightforward one especially as Goffin has never won a set against Andy before and he got drubbed in their last match in Paris, where Goffin only won a single game.  However a different David Goffin took to the court today as he showed some stern resistance against Andy and he bravely fended off some break points early on, however Andy eventually went on to break him and take the first set.  The second was a closer affair, which saw Andy come under for a change from Goffin and play went to 5-5 where Andy finally managed to break the Belgian again and he grabbed the two set lead.  And in the 3rd set Andy got a bit edgy as he finally dropped served to hand Goffin a break, but it was short lived as Andy quickly broke back and yet again broke Goffin to move that bit closer to victory.  And at 5-3 with Goffin serving, Andy seized the initiative with two championship points, one went begging but on the second one, Andy played a delicious lob that went over Goffin's head, which saw Andy collapse to the ground in delight as he sealed Great Britain's first ever Davis cup title for 79 years after a hard fought 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 win giving GB the unassailiable 3-1 lead.

Well it had to be said that Great Britain did go into this tie as the favourites but the Belgians having home advantage was always a dangerous thing but in the end it was down to Murrays who worked together as a team and got the job done.  And credit particularly of course has to go to Andy who worked incredibly hard throughout the year as he compiled an unbeaten run at the Davis cup this season and there is not much doubt that they couldn't have done it without him.  And as a team its surely something that they never thought they would have achieved this year but with each tie they kept going from strength to strength and it was great to see them finally get over the finish line.

And the GB Davis cup team overall deserve all the credit too particularly the team captain, Leon Smith who has solidified the team since he has taken over the role and provided them with invaluable support and making smart decisions on who to pick to play certain matches.  And also alot of credit belongs to James Ward, who over the last few years has been something of a Davis cup hero too, particularly in his match this year against John Isner of the USA team as he battled back from two sets down to beat the giant serving (giant) American in an epic match that lasted nearly five hours.  And I think its safe to say if it wasn't for Ward winning that match, Great Britain might not be in the position that they are in now.

Not only that James Ward also played a key part in the tie that got Great Britain into the world group play-offs two years ago when GB took on Russia and they had to come from 2-0 down to win the tie.  And in doing so James won the key rubber that levelled the tie at 2-2 after he beat the much higher ranked Russian player, Dimitri Tursinov in 5 sets and in the next match after that Dan Evans sealed the win to guarantee them with a chance to reach the world group play-offs.  And Dan Evans of course is another player that deserves recognition for his efforts in the Davis cup in recents years as well. 

As for the decisive rubber match itself it was a tense and gripping encounter and both men played some great rallies and tennis for the pumped crowd, as 12000 Belgium fans got on Andy's case leaving the remaining 1000 Brits to cheers their man on as much as they could.  But David Goffin also deserves nothing but credit for his efforts in this match and also the whole weekend as he fought to keep Belgium alive into the final day and he put up a brave effort against Andy aswell.  And despite the match being a straight set victory for Andy it was anything but easy as both men pushed each other hard at times with plenty of games going to deuce, but ultimately the plucky young Belgian came up short.  However despite their tough loss the Belgian team still have alot to be proud of in their achievements this year as has David Goffin who is already ranked in the top 20 and surely will be in the top 10 pretty soon. 

And as for Andy well.... this is another great moment in his career and it sees him claim the 4th biggest win of his career, which will no doubt stand alongside his Olympic gold, US Open and Wimbledon trophies.  And while its not an individual achievement as such there is no doubt that this is one of Andy's standout moments in his career and yet again it puts him up there with the "other three" of Roger, Rafa and Novak.  And unlike Novak, Andy can join Rog and Raf in having the pleasure of playing and winning the decisive match for his team and no doubt its not one he's likely to forget soon.

And it has to be said that this caps off what has been the best season of Andy's career so far which has seen him compile his best match record of 71 match wins (and 14 losses) as well claiming his first two clay courts title (well three if you count the Davis cup!).  And bizzarely enough Andy's year has actually mirrored Federer's from last year, as last year Roger reached the same number of stages in the slams as Andy did two semis, a final and one 4th round and not only that Roger also won the Davis cup for Switzerland ALSO away from home on clay too!  Now that is quite a coincidence! ;-)

But whether or not Andy can use his victory to build on next year in the grand slams and indeed at the Olympics in Rio remains to be seen but it sure won't do his confidence any harm and I wouldn't be surprised if we were to see him lift one major trophy next year (permitting Novak let's him or anybody else do so! ;-)).  But whatever happens next year there is no doubt that 2015 has indeed been a very sweet one for the British No.1 not to mention he is now a married man and expecting a baby with his wife Kim next year, so things are looking bright for Andy Murray. 

Anyway so that's it for the 2015 Davis cup final and indeed for the tennis season this year and its been quite a year again and this weekend closed it in style and let's hope that 2016 will be just as good, if not better.  And if I have time I might do my countdown of the Top 10 men's matches of the year (sorry I can't really do the ladies matches anymore as I don't have access to the WTA matches on my TV anymore!) in fact I will make a note of it to do that sometime next month.

So I will leave you with this image of the weekend and say a big well done to Andy and team GB for their first Davis cup title in 79 years and with it Andy once again emulates the achievements of Fred Perry (who last won it for GB in 1936) they are a right pair those two! ;-)

Anyways till the next one, bye for now!

The Davis cup final preview

OK it has been quite a while since I last did a post on here but I thought since the Davis cup final is soon upon us then I would do a post on how I think the even could possibly go and also the progress of Andy Murray and Jamie Murray at the ATP world tour finals event at the o2.

So to recap on Andy's progress at the ATP world tour finals well to start off Andy was drawn in the group with Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and David Ferrer.  And before the event started it looked like this was the more favourable group for Andy given that Rafa's form has been questionable this year and he dominated them in their previous meeting in Madrid and while Stan was dangerous he could also be flaky form wise.

And Andy got his campaign off to a good start as he beat David Ferrer in straight sets in an entertaining match that saw Andy seal the win 6-4, 6-4.  And going into his match with Rafa, Andy looked to be the favourite although Rafa in recent weeks has recovered some of his old form.  And in their match we saw the Rafa of old re-emerge as the Spaniard whitewashed a surprisingly lacklustre Andy in straight sets 6-4, 6-1.  And this match appeared to raise a few questions over Andy's form and commitment to the tournament with maybe the Davis cup final prying on his mind (or maybe not).  However the match itself signified that Rafa is back and getting that closer to finding his best form.

So with Rafa having won his first two matches, beating Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray, he qualified for the semi finals of the o2.  And this left Andy having to fight it out against Stan who beat Ferrer in straight sets to keep himself alive.  And the match between Andy and Stan proved to be somewhat more competitive than his Rafa match with Andy going a break down in the 1st set at 5-3 but he broke back but ultimately lost the set on a tiebreak.  And in the 2nd set Andy dropped serve straight off to Stan and later he went another break down before Andy managed to fight back to make it 5-4 with Stan serving for the match, Andy had some break point opportunities but in the end couldn't take them and Stan finally sealed the match to knock Andy out of the tournament with a 7-6, 6-4 win.

As for Jamie Murray, well he also suffered a similar fate to Andy at the o2 after having won his first match with doubles partner, John Peers, they took on the Bryan brothers for a semi final place.  And both Jamie and Peers had their chances with several match points in the champion tiebreak but they were unfortunately able to put away the Bryans who fought back from a set down to win the match 6-7, 7-6, 14-12.  And this saw Jamie and John both knocked out of the o2 aswell.

So it has to be said that the o2 was a pretty disappointing event for Andy this year as well as Jamie, especially given it was the first time Jamie had qualified for the tournament.  It was also an indication that Andy was put in a position where he had to play the event under pressure from the ATP despite having secured Great Britain's place in the final, the ATP chairman, Chris Kermode, picked up on a comment made by Andy shortly after he secured the final spot that he may have to miss the tournament in order to prep for the event on clay.  And there was also plenty of time that passed in between then and the o2 where Andy had to make a decision and he finally decided that he would play both events.  And this meant that Andy had to play a delicate balancing act switching between practice on the two different surfaces hard court and clay prior to playing the ATP WTF at the o2.

And I think as a result of that Andy wasn't given enough time to prep for the o2 given that he had to practice for four days on clay just before the weekend leading up to the event itself, it was a tough balancing act.  Admittedly Roger Federer also was put in a similar position last year before he went on to seal victory for Switzerland and he was forced to withdraw from the o2 after his gruelling match against Stan Wawrinka and he too had to practice on clay in between the tour hard court events.  And the fact that Andy has had a very similar path to Roger last year might act as some sort of omen for Great Britain's chances next week but whether or not they will pan out or not remains to be seen.

So for me Andy's exit from the o2 is far from surprising and its a pity that he wasn't able to simply skip the event in the first place given the once in a lifetime opportunity he has of securing the Davis cup title for his country.  And it shows again that the ATP's demands were also somewhat unfair given that Andy already bailed them out last year when Roger Federer withdrew from the final he turned up to play an exhibition event with Novak Djokovic and also John McEnroe.  And I almost feel like that as Andy has fully honoured his commitment to the o2 event that they should owe him a favour in return! (well not really but you get what I mean).  But just maybe Andy's exit from the tournament will be a blessing in disguise.  

But anyway as for the Davis cup final next week itself its going to be an interesting one as the GB team will travel to Ghent in Belgium for the event and the tournament final itself kicks off on Friday 27 November.

As for how it will pan out????  Well its hard to say exactly although I would still pick Great Britain as the favourites for the title given that they have Andy and Jamie Murray who have been such an effective team together in the last two ties.  But the fact that Belgium have home advantage could well work in their own favour and the singles players David Goffin and Steve Darcis are both very good players, particularly as Goffin is a top 20 player and should they win one of their reverse singles rubbers on the first day and if they win the doubles then they will have the upper hand.

Also given that while the GB team have good back up singles players in James Ward and Kyle Edmund, they might not be good enough against the home favourites Goffin and Darcis and that the enormity of the ocassion might also cause them to fold under pressure.  So if it does come down to a final rubber between GB and Belgium's No.2 players, its going to be hard to side with GB in this instance.  However its worth noting that the Belgium team did not fair well in the doubles in their last two ties and they won them in the singles matches.  And should Andy win his reverse singles match on day one and win the doubles with Jamie on the second day then he sure to be the favourite against David Goffin on the final day, but to be honest we won't know how it will pan out until play is under way.  What is certain though is that the doubles rubber will be vital for both teams as which ever team wins it will surely go on to win the tie and the title with it. 

However one thing we can be sure of is Andy Murray's unwavering commitment to the Davis cup team and if there was any concerns about his full commitment to the ATP world tour finals there will be none whatsoever next week in Ghent.  So I think even if Andy has (and I'm sure he will) have sloppy moments of play in his matches, he will give his all and fight until the last point to try and ensure that he wins the title.  And if Andy does then he will join his old pal Fred Perry once again in being the first man since Fred to have secured the Davis cup title for Great Britain and that would almost certainly be the cherry on top of cake of what has been a pretty sweet year for Andy all round (sorry bad pun!).

Sooooo my prediction for the final as far as I see it is that Great Britain will win the title 3-1 as I think Belgium can definitely level proceedings on day 1 but hopefully on day 2, I think Andy and Jamie will win the doubles tie and if they do then Andy will be more than a match for Goffin on the final day.  Buttttttttt we will just have to wait and see how it pans out and can only hope that Andy, Jamie, James and Kyle can all pitch in and play their part to win the title that has eluded Great Britain for 79 years.  And while the ATP world tour finals is a prestiguous tour event, for Andy Murray winning the Davis cup surely will mean much more.  

Anyway so that's it for now and I will be back next week (with baited breath!) once the Davis cup final weekend is under way.

However (update on 23.11.15) there are still concerns in Belgium as Brussels was put on maximum alert due to the possible risk of a terrorist attack in the aftermath of the Paris attacks (as several of the terrorists involved in the attacks in Paris were from Brussels) which potentially could mean the tie might not go ahead given that Ghent is quite close to Brussels (only 35 miles away).  But the Flemish Tennis Association so far have stated that they intend to go ahead with the tie and hopefully it will as it would be great pity for both teams to miss out on their opportunity to win.  However safety does come first and if it is to be postponed well there's not much that can be done but let's just hope things do go ahead without any incident.          

Until the next one bye for now!