Edmund set to debut in Davis Cup final

As Henri Leconte pointed out when I spoke to him earlier this week, this is Davis Cup and there’s usually at least a twist along the way.

Those two victories infused Murray with the belief he could handle the peculiar demands of the surface.

It was a combination of these two demerits which first led to Smith knocking on the door of then Scottish national coach Judy Murray shortly before the turn of the millennium, setting in motion a chain of events which sees the Glaswegian lead a Great Britain team into this weekend’s Davis Cup final as strong favourites to land their first title in the world cup of team tennis since 1936.

Since then they have climbed from the competition’s third tier to the top division and have this year beaten fellow grand slam nations the United States, France and Australia.

When a Belgian journalist put it to the Scot that the final was being portrayed here as Murray versus Belgium, he had to pause before answering, conscious of the strength of the team ethic in the Great Britain squad.

“I think if you look at it that way, they’re actually putting a lot of pressure on their own players in the other matches, to be honest”, he said.

‘I’m happy to take as much pressure on my shoulders as is needed, ‘ he said. I would stake a lot of money on Murray seeing steering Britain to Davis Cup glory to be right up there with winning Olympic gold in London, Wimbledon and the US Open. “I think we’re all ready to go”. It’s not going to be an easy match for David [Goffin, Belgium’s No1].

“This is definitely going to be the biggest crowd I’ve played in front of”. He has a lot of firepower out there. Many observers seem to turn their nose up at the Davis Cup, saying that it’s irrelevant, or that the on-and-off participation of the top players renders it less interesting as a tournament.

“We’re looking forward to getting the people involved”.

Smith has only lost two ties since taking over as captain in 2010. I think he has great potential.

The combatants, meanwhile, are all searingly aware of the seriousness of the engagement. In Belgium’s only previous appearance in the final, at Wimbledon in 1904, Reggie and Laurence Doherty secured victory by winning the doubles.

Henman is expecting Murray to turn on the style in Belgium.

There is every chance he will win all three rubbers and, in doing so, will win the Davis Cup for GB. That is an extraordinary contribution from one family. That could leave the tie in the doubles which features both Andy and Jamie Murray against Kimmer Coppejans and Steve Darcis.

Kyle Edmund will make his Davis Cup debut in the final on Friday when he opens the tie against Belgium.

Edmund’s case for selection was helped greatly by the fact that he recently won a Challenger title on the clay of Buenos Aires.

The 20-year-old, ranked 100th in the world, was chosen for singles duty ahead of James Ward by captain Leon Smith.

Amid the climate of uncertainty, Great Britain delayed its weekend departure to Ghent – a spokesman for the UK’s Lawn Tennis Association told the Daily Telegraph it was because courts weren’t available to be used by the team until Monday – and when it did make the journey, took the unusual step for such a short trek of using a private jet to bypass Brussels.