Andy Murray in tears after one of his most emotional wins

The Scottish tennis legend played for Team GB on day of Gran's funeral

Author: Rob WallerPublished 16th Sep 2023
Last updated 16th Sep 2023

Sir Andy Murray broke down in tears at the end of an epic Davis Cup win in Manchester revealing he was missing his grandmother's funeral at home in Scotland to play the, winning vital points for the Great Britain team.

At the end of what had been a light-hearted on-court interview, the player from Dunblane choked up, revealing the added significance of his victory.

"Today is a tough day for me, it's my gran's funeral today," he said. "I'm sorry to my family that I'm not able to be there but gran, this one's for you."

Murray then returned to his bench where he sat sobbing into his towel.

Asked in his press conference later whether he had considered not playing, the Scot said: "I spoke to my dad about it and he said that she'd want you to play. He just said make sure you win, so I did."

Impressive win

It made his efforts in coming through another long and tense battle even more impressive.

Murray needed all his nous to grind out a 6-7 (7) 6-4 6-4 victory over Swiss debutant Leandro Riedi in three hours and 10 minutes at Manchester's AO Arena, giving Great Britain a 1-0 lead over Switzerland.

Murray had only lost three of his previous 35 singles matches in the competition and never to a player ranked as low as world number 152 Riedi, but the big-hitting 21-year-old produced a performance well above that.

Having seen his gamble to play debutant Jack Draper and Dan Evans handsomely pay off in Wednesday's victory over Australia, captain Leon Smith made use of his options by naming Murray and Cameron Norrie as his singles players here.

After negotiating an 11-minute first game, the Scot broke serve immediately and had a chance to open up a 4-0 lead.

He could not take it, though, and Riedi worked his way into the contest, beginning to cause Murray increasing problems with his big forehand and aggressive tactics.

They earned him a break back when the Scot served for the set at 5-3, and Murray was then unable to take two set points in the tie-break, Riedi converting his first opportunity with his 22nd winner.

Frustration at missed chances

The young Swiss, who had never previously beaten a top-50 player, had his tail up and Murray kicked his bag in frustration after failing to break in the third game of the second set.

He finally made the breakthrough at 3-3 when Riedi double-faulted, only for the 21-year-old to leave his opponent rooted to the spot with a series of blistering returns.

Undeterred, Murray engineered another break and this time held onto it with trademark grim determination to level the match.

The 36-year-old has been in similar situations hundreds of times during his career and ultimately experience won out, although it was still nip and tuck, with Murray slamming his racket to the court after handing an early break back in the decider.

He broke again to lead 3-2, though, and quashed Riedi's hopes of a comeback by taking his first match point with an ace.

Murray said: "It's obviously incredible to get through that one, it easily could have gone the other way.

"It was ridiculous the shots he was pulling off, amazing, amazing returning. I kept fighting and tried to stay focused and managed to turn it round."

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