More Pressure for Andy Murray as Davis Cup Looms for Great Britain

Pressure stalks tennis superstar Andy Murray as he unbuckles his racket for the Davis Cup final against Team Belgium. What is it like to be the Scot as he picks up his equipment bag and strides to battle on Ghent’s red clay?

Imagine being charged with no less than fulfilling one more British ultimatum, likely the only chance you will ever get. You’re the heroic knight who shields his teammates from the media, and who is willing to take on all the pressure to succeed or fail.

You are tennis’ biggest British star since pre-World War II champion Fred Perry, and you are a sports combatant decades removed from golden icons like Roger Bannister and the 1966 World Cup soccer squad. You live in an age of global competition and 21st-century British media, which has forever been the literary hotbed of caustic social commentary, critical wit and sports obituaries.

You’ve dealt with pressure before, but never quite like this. No matter. You will carry your teammates, aching back and all. This is what you do, because you are Andy Murray.

Unmet Expectations

It’s always been like that since your launch into tennis stardom in the summer of 2006. The clock began to tick when you defeated Swiss Maestro Roger Federer during his all-time peak at his beloved Cincinnati. The expectations have never let up since. (Cue the David Bowie and Queen lyrics.) Pressure pushing down on me...Pressing down on you, no man ask for...Under pressure.

By 2010, you were no longer just happy to perform, because you couldn’t merely go through the motions for unconditional applause like the latest Rolling Stones concert.

Frustration boiled, particularly with charges that you were a punchless pusher, that you would never win a major and that you must journey into oblivion to raise up the British Davis Cup team.

You admitted that you were mentally drained with Davis Cup criticism in 2010.

You became the project for coach Ivan Lendl in 2012, knowing that failure would not be linked to his playing background of eight major titles. Best player to never win a major? Just another backhanded insult to remind you that you were not in the class of Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Turned away from it all like a blind man. Sat on a fence but it don't work...Under pressure.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Restless Success

Just after Wimbledon 2012 left you tearfully broken, you flipped the script on Federer, holding up the Olympic gold singles medal on Centre Court London.

A month later, you got that major against the relentless Djokovic, but of course you heard the whispers that you had a day of extra rest and that it was the windy final that neutralized the Serbian.

And yet you persevered for Great Britain once again, winning 2013 Wimbledon despite a bad back that would need surgery. Never mind that your vacation in the Bahamas with Kim Sears was a series of public photos from the shark-infested media fishbowl.

Rehabilitation and sluggish tennis. Like weary Atlas, you had to shift your shoulders for over a year of tough knocks in trying to regain your champion’s form. From nearly everyone else, compassion was short-lived and criticism was easy.

It all seemed to boil over with your 6-0, 6-1 humiliation at the 2014 World Tour Finals by the more elderly Federer. You probably felt like hiding in a cave on some remote world like Tatooine.

Days later, irony came calling as Federer pulled out of the final against Djokovic with a bad back, And you didn’t hesitate. You sped to the O2 Arena to perform for the London patrons. You did so out of loyalty, never once asking for anything, even to pose, once again, as a punching bag to Djokovic. Of course, Federer was fine a few days later to go and get his Davis Cup championship.

But that’s Federer. You’re Murray. As if you hadn’t been reminded at least 2000 times. Not even Helen of Troy could have launched as many barbs.

Keep coming up with love but it's so slashed and torn...Why, why, why?...Under pressure.

Julian Finney/Getty Images

Davis Cup Miracle 2015

And then you were back to playing like Andy Murray. Eyes of the returner. Scrappy defense and offensive wizardry with your intelligent variety. Not that you would get much credit, even as you made your other breaks in tennis and life, winning clay-court tournaments for the first time and getting married to Kim Sears.

Through it all, you kept winning, except that Djokovic and Federer were the ones competing for Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles.

Alastair Grant/Associated Press

Almost out of nowhere, bursting from the sea like H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu creatures, you and your British teammates alerted the Davis Cup world that something was afoot. You were not just the deciding factor but almost the only factor in toppling hated France and beating back roguish cousins from Down Under.

Can you believe that Team Britain was in the Davis Cup final for late November?

Not that pressure would leave you any peace. The Belgians announced they wanted to host you on a red-clay carpet, specifically designed to trip you up. You entertain the idea of  passing on the World Tour finals for more time to train on clay because you are a teammate with a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

Meanwhile, the ATP sternly admonished you that your priority was the WTF, which was a ludicrous display of power to deny your rights. Few listened or cared, and you soldiered on in London, taking more criticism when you were blasted by Nadal and ousted by Stan Wawrinka.

So forget about those who question the validity of your world No. 2 ranking or the incessant reminders that you are not one of the Big Three.

Forget about the intrusive background checks on the relationship between you and your older brother Jamie, just to be sure that jealousy—like a green-eyed journalist—would not threaten Great Britain’s precious Davis Cup. After all, if something went awry with your doubles partnership in Ghent, the funeral would be ready and waiting.

Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking. Can't we give ourselves one more chance? Under pressure...

Scott Heppell/Associated Press

Pressure, Coming Down on Me

You're Andy Murray, and it all comes down to you. Win both singles ties and win the doubles with Jamie. That’s it, that’s all.

One mistake, however, and you could be out, and the Belgians have a few tough cookies of their own in world No. 16 David Goffin (whom you destroyed 6-1, 6-0 in Paris last month) and journeyman Steve Darcis, who once knocked out Nadal from the 2013 Wimbledon first round.

Instead, you take the initiative to tell your opponents that they must not underestimate your “dangerous teammates.” Just words to ruffle their Belgian psyche? 

Julian Finney/Getty Images

Hardly. It’s simply that you are demanding to look pressure square in the eye. You can handle it, and your words are direct and true like so many of your backhand returns, per ESPN UK: “I'm happy to take as much pressure on my shoulders as is needed. I've been in that position a lot of times in my career. I will be able to deal with it okay.”

Just like that. Keep it simple.

You shoulder your bag and walk slowly into the arena, a rude landscape of red clay and boisterous Belgians holding up giant caricature faces of their country’s team. Your teammates sit with you, lifting you up in spirit and looking at you to take the lead.

You’ve never been so ready to succeed or fail. You are not afraid.

This is why you are Andy Murray.

Caring about ourselves...This is our last dance...This is our last dance...This is ourselves...Under pressure...Under pressure...Pressure.