Sunday I started off a little early for the queue a little earlier on the Sunday, mainly as it was raining a little and I wanted to take more photographs. I also wanted to find the scoreboard, which I never did find. Wandering round the fan zone I had my photograph taken again and collected some freebies (well, it has to be done right), so I made my way to my seat and got a few photos before the curtain went up again. I even had a little chat with Andrew Castle before the action got underway. As before, the curtain fell after a countdown and the teams were on the court. The fourth rubber of the tie would be Andy Murray v David Goffin. Lots more noise from the Belgians and there definitely seemed to be more Brits than the last couple of days.
Davis Cup Final: From A Fans’ View – Day 3
Just one match, that was all we needed to end a 79-year wait. We know how good Murray is at laying the Fred Perry ghost to rest these days, so we had high hopes this was going to be straight forward. We were in good voice for our lad and started up a chant of “I believe that we will win” (we really should thank the American football, or soccer as they call it, fans for that). Murray came out and the first set was over pretty quickly. One down, two to go. This could be over quite quickly, we all discussed the last meeting between them in Paris.
The second set was much closer this time as both were nearly broken a few times, we tried to encourage Murray on to break but Goffin managed to hold and it was 5-5 after a Murray hold. A tie break looked likely (I hate tiebreaks) however with the crowd getting more excited Murray broke Goffin, he just needed to hold his serve and be up two sets. Murray did hold serve and we were one set away from history. A new chant started up “one more set, one more set” During the match Kyle Edmund stayed in the arena on the bench to support the team but James Ward had disappeared, from a fan’s perspective this led me to the belief that should a fifth rubber be needed it was going to be Ward, who is experienced in high-pressure Davis Cup situations.
The third set started with Murray being broken for the first time in the tie, and as Goffin held serve we were suddenly in a spot of bother at 0-2 down. Murray was not done yet though, we all knew how much this meant to him (and if we are honest, us) we raised our voices yet again as Murray broke straight back, would he consolidate and get back on serve. Shouting his name “Andy, Andy” in a tense game Murray held, and we erupted again. Goffin was still putting up a good fight but Murray was not going to let this go. We wouldn’t let him for a start. Every point, every game we would yell, shout and dance in the seats. As did the Belgians when Goffin got any point, it wasn’t hostile at any point and they were louder as there were more of them than us, but we were giving everything to get Murray over the line. With the score at 5-3 and the Belgian serving Murray maneuvered to match point. We held our breath as the rally went on and on, the Belgian crowd were celebrating what they thought was their point, but they were early, as Murray got an impossible ball back, only for Goffin to return the ball, Murray raced to it and with a cheeky lob that landed in, we rose as one as Murray sank to his knees before being mobbed by Leon Smith and the rest of the team. We were jumping, screaming and crying together the lads had done it! We were World Champions!
Watching the presentation of our team receiving the trophy and medals set many of us crying again it had been a long journey to get here and everyone involved in the team deserved this, after doing a short circuit of the stadium with their little trophies Murray came back out and was singing autographs and taking selfies with the fans, and finally after many attempts I actually got to meet Andy Murray.
It has been a great journey following the Davis Cup team and managing to get to three of the ties this year and it was a heck of a weekend, that I will never forget.
