Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray is prepared for the possibility that his last Davis Cup match played in Glasgow on Sunday could be the final one of his career.
The former world No.1 eased to a 6-4, 6-3, win over Kazakhstan’s Dmitry Popko during what has been a disappointing event for the host nation. Great Britain entered their final tie of the group on Sunday knowing they had failed to secure qualification for November’s finals after suffering losses to the Netherlands and USA. Nevertheless, Murray gave home fans something to cheer about with a largely solid performance that featured 33 winners and nine aces.
Although closing the match out was harder than it seemed for Murray who admitted afterwards that he started to feel emotional about the possibility of playing the team competition in his city of birth for the last time.
“I only thought about it at about 5-2 in the second set. I wasn’t thinking about it before the weekend, during any of the doubles matches or anything. I kind of realized that as I was playing the match.” He said.
“I lost my focus a bit and felt a little bit emotional about that. But, yeah, I wasn’t thinking about that throughout the rest of the week I guess probably because there was always another match coming as well.”
Throughout his career Murray has played in 51 Davis Cup matches, winning 41 of those. In 2015 he guided his country to its first title in 79 years by winning 11 matches in a row.
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and this seems to be the case for the 35-year-old who describes his decision not to play in the event last year as a ‘mistake.’ As for the future, Murray has vowed to play the Davis Cup if he is selected to do so but acknowledges he faces stiff competition. At present, Britain has nine players in the Pepperstone ATP top 100 – four in singles and another five in doubles.
“It’s not going to be easy with the players that we have. Someone like Jack Draper is improving all the time. He’ll be involved in the team for many years. Then I don’t know which way the captain will go with the doubles after the results here, as well.” Murray said about being selected in the future.
“I don’t know what the future holds in that respect but if I’m selected I’ll definitely, definitely be involved.”
Murray’s next tournament will be in less than a week at the Laver Cup where Roger Federer is set to play the last match of his career.
