Andy Murray, who inspired Great Britain to victory at the 2015 Davis Cup, was playing his 50th match in the men’s team event Group stage venues: Bologna, Glasgow, Hamburg and Valencia Dates: 13-18 September Coverage: Live TV coverage of Great Britain matches on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, with selected live text commentary and match reports on the website and app
Great Britain failed to reach the knockout stage of the Davis Cup final after Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury lost their doubles decider against the Netherlands.
The Group D tie in Glasgow had been leveled at 1-1 after Dan Evans won in the singles before Cameron Norrie lost to set up an emphatic final.
But Murray and Salisbury lost a thriller 7-6 (7-0) 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 to Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop.
The win puts the Dutch and the United States into the next round in November.
Leon Smith’s side face Kazakhstan on Sunday, but neither can progress, while the Netherlands face the United States on Saturday to decide who goes through to the Malaga test as group winners.
A minute’s silence was held again before kick-off and the tie is played without the usual music between matches, as a mark of respect during the period of national mourning following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
The defeat of the doubles sealed the fate of Great Britain
The permutations in this tie were simple for the hosts: win or be out.
And after British number one Norrie lost 6-4 6-2 to Botic van de Zandschulp in a below par performance to overturn number two Evans’ 6-4 6-4 win against Tallon Griekspoor, it all came down to doubles.
Andy Murray had by far the biggest cheers this week when his name was announced, with the three-time Grand Slam champion returning to the men’s singles tournament for the first time since 2019.
He spoke about his regret over the “mistake” of skipping the Davis Cup last year and how he was now ready to help the team this year even if he didn’t end up playing.
He ended up playing twice but couldn’t rescue the draw.
He and Salisbury broke in the first game of the match and went 3-1, but broke to love for the Dutch to make it 4-4 and eventually took it to a tie-break, where they did not lose a point .
The Brits may have started to sense things might not go well when Middelkoop won the most improbable point in that tiebreaker, where he had laid on the floor halfway through only to acrobatically leap and fire a winner into the net. .
But there were more twists and turns to come as a hard-fought second set headed to a seemingly inevitable tie-break.
A series of stunning winners from Murray drew a standing ovation before complete silence as a strike from Middlekoop led to a match point.
Salisbury held his nerve – and his serve – in style with a booming delivery that Middelkoop could only hit long and the Brits claimed the set when a Murray shot caught the net in a lucky spot to spark wild celebrations from his teammates. including a jubilant lap of honor by Evans.
But missed chances at 3-3 and a loose service game from Salisbury in the next game brought the party down as Murray hit wide to give the Dutch pair a break that left them serving for the match.
Having had to wait 50 minutes from their previous match point, they weren’t about to miss another chance and sealed victory when Murray scored.
The “best” team fails to deliver at home
Great Britain had arrived in Scotland with what they considered to be their strongest squad in terms of depth, with three singles players in the top 50, as well as the best and third doubles players in the world.
The US defeated them 2-1 on Wednesday in an agonizing and grueling encounter, with all three matches going to three sets and play ending close to 01:00 BST.
The Netherlands tie was another quality affair, but questions are sure to be asked about whether Leon Smith got his team selection right and why a team so strong on paper will not be in contention for the trophy in Malaga.
The fifth and unused member of Team GB was Neal Skupski, the world’s third-best doubles player who was runner-up in the men’s doubles final alongside one of Friday’s Dutch rivals Koolhof.
The player who may be most disappointed with his performance might be Norrie, who had a big part in his opening match against American Taylor Fritz and even more so in that loss against Van de Zandschulp.
The Briton had beaten the Dutchman 6-1 6-2 just a few weeks ago in Canada, but he outplayed him here, with the world number 35 dominating on serve as he racked up 13 aces and also hit 18 winners to Norrie’s four in one game. fully deserved victory.
“That’s not a player in my ranking, and that’s me on a really bad day,” Norrie said.
“That’s not the level I’m at. It’s not the level I’m capable of. I’m disappointed in that.”
analysis
Russell Fuller, BBC Tennis Correspondent
“It’s bullshit,” says Andy Murray, who was left sad to hit a second forehand into the net on a break point midway through the decisive set.
After saving two break points at 3-3, the Netherlands won the last 10 points of the match.
When GB won the Davis Cup in 2015, Murray (with help from brother Jamie in doubles) contributed 11 of the team’s 12 points.
What makes this defeat even more frustrating is that British men’s tennis now has genuine strength in depth.
There will be no trip to Malaga in November to contest the last 16, and if GB are yet to receive another wild card for next year’s finals, they will have to brace their arm in a tie in February.