Leon Smith, who knows Andy Murray as well as anyone in tennis, says he would understand if the world No1 chose not to play for him in Great Britain’s Davis Cup tie against Canada in Ottawa next week.
Smith, who will announce the team on Tuesday, said of the dilemma: “There’s time. I can name or not name him. Doesn’t matter. You can change two out of the team up until Thursday morning.”
Smith said the shock defeat by Mischa Zverev on Sunday will have hurt Murray, who has benefited from the Davis Cup environment in similar situations in the past, but he also has a rare opportunity to rest after a hectic end to last season.
“I think the Davis Cup is a really good way of [getting over defeat],” Smith said. “We’re all friends, it’s a really good week. But the matches are still very draining. It doesn’t matter, you can have a very fun week and enjoy being around your team‑mates but, when all’s said and done, you’re playing best-of-five-set tennis. It doesn’t matter who it’s against: Pospisil, Polansky, Raonic, Dancevic.
“Whoever plays, it’s still tough. It’s still a lot of time on court in a pressure situation. He has to weigh up what’s right for him. And you’re still looking at what he did the second half of last year, such a long run.
“To be honest, the best thing for his body is probably not to play, in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong – I’d love him to play. But, for his own good, it’s better for him to rest up and train and get ready for this next period, because there won’t be much time the rest of the year and this might be a really good time to do it. Because once you play Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, then you hit the clay season and the grass season, there ain’t much time. So this is probably the best time.”
That will come as a blow to Great Britain supporters but Smith is right. If Murray rests now for a month – as he did after leaving Melbourne last year to await the arrival of his first child – he will return to the Tour in the best shape to defend his No1 ranking.
Novak Djokovic still looms largest on Murray’s horizon, even after also clattering out of this tournament in a major surprise, against the world No117, Denis Istomin, in the second round. But the Serb, who has committed to returning to the Davis Cup, has a lot of points to defend up to and including the French Open.
Smith said Murray’s defeat against Zverev, 67 places higher in the rankings than Istomin, would be just as hard to swallow as any of his high-profile defeats against Djokovic, including in four Australian Open finals. “It will be really tough to take,” Smith said. “And I don’t think it’s because there was a lot of talk of Djokovic being out, who was going to be his main rival. It’s not the case. There’s a lot of good players there. His record in slams in unbelievable, he’s No1 in the world, he was one of the favourites here and he’s out in the last 16 – and it’s going to hurt. But once he gets his head around it and once he gets enough people reminding him he’s still No1 in the world – he’s grown that gap even more this week – he can put some distance between himself and the rest over the coming months with Indian Wells, and Miami in particular.
“He will be reminded enough times by those around him of what a run he’s on. It’s one match. It’s a sore one just now, but he’ll come back.”
Others in the game felt for Murray and all agreed with Smith that he would recover soon enough. Jonas Björkman, who took over as Murray’s coach briefly before Ivan Lendl’s return, said: “I was surprised to see him not striking the ball as well as he usually does. Normally he likes the target coming in so he can hit the passing shots, but against Zverev he just couldn’t find the rhythm.
“Zverev knew if he stayed back he’d have a small chance of winning so he came with a great game plan and he was brave enough to see it through. Still, it’s good for the fans to see someone different win – it’s been a huge domination by the ‘big five’ for years and who knows, maybe it’s not bad for them to have some disappointment too, to have to reset their goals.”
Pat Cash saw Murray’s exit as a bigger surprise than Djokovic’s. The Australian former Wimbledon champion said: “To see a guy serve-volley on second serve and beat the world No1, who is allegedly one of the best returners and best passers of all time, and just get knotted up and not even able to hit a passing shot, it was really impressive to watch. I enjoyed it. I didn’t really care who won or lost but I did enjoy the competition.”
Goran Ivanisevic, Tomas Berdych’s coach, said: “Zverev is not a guy who came out of nowhere. He almost beat Djokovic in Shanghai, he had some great results, but I never thought Murray could lose to Zverev because his defending is the best. It’s a missed opportunity [because of Djokovic’s loss].”
