David Goffin, Eddy Merckx, Plastic Bertrand, Herge, Kim Clijsters, Georges Simenon, Jean-Pierre Coopman, Raymond Goethals, Jacky Ickx, Jean-Marie Pfaff, Peter Paul Rubens, Jean Claude Van Damme, Rene Magritte, Enzo Scifo, Aldophe Sax, King Leopold III, Audrey Hepburn, Hercule Poirot, Willy Claes, Jan Cuelemans, Kim Huybrechts, Jean-Marc Bosman. We have beaten them all! We have beaten them all! Johan Van Herck, can you hear me? Your boys took a hell of a beating. A hell of a beating.”
Belgium. Birthplace of Giants!
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Is there an arrangement whereby the leading tennis players have agreed some sort of timetable whereby they each take it in turn to play in and win the Davis Cup ? Fine achievement though this was, I don’t think that GB would have beaten a full strength Switzerland or Serbia, for example.
But they did beat a full strength USA, Australia and France before defeating the Belgians. And five years ago we were a play-off away from relegation to the lowest tier of the tournament. I think that’s a phenomenal achievement and undeserving of “faint” praise.
If we are to revisit the results of sporting events based on the strength of the opposition, can we have a look at the 1970 World Cup (Gordon Banks had food poisoning for the 1/4 finals); the 1980 World Cup (Keegan and Brooking); 2002 (various metatarsals); 2006 (Michael Owen’s knee); and would Germany have beaten Brazil 7-1 last year if it wasn’t for the absence of Neymar? Almost any team that wins any sporting event could be accused of facing weakened opposition and in years to come, no-one remembers.
GB won the Davis Cup because they deserved to. Andy Murray became only the third in history (at least under the current post-1981 format) to complete a perfect 8-0 singles record during the year and the first since Pee Sampras in 1995 to win three “live” matches in a final. And the way he went to congratulate/console the Belgian team before celebrating was exemplary.
It will quite probably never happen again during my lifetime (my dad was 6 months old when it last happened; my mum not even a twinkle in Grandads eyes). Let’s just enjoy it without reservation.
I’m dead curious to know how Sampras got that nickname. I’m wondering whether it’s in any way connected to the fact you don’t see very many players drinking the barley water at Wimbledon anymore..
During his period of dominance during the nineties there was much whispering in the Gentleman’s locker room about just how he could be so good. As a result he was required to provide more than his fair share of samples for drugs tests and in his efforts to gain those “marginal gains” at a time when the concept was largely unknown, he trained himself to micturate on demand – hence “Pee” Sampras. I believe it was Goran Ivanisevic who coined the nickname after Sampras produced the necessary whilst being interviewed by Sue Barker in the aftermath of their titanic 1998 five-setter – I was fortunate enough to be in attendance with my then-girlfriend/now-wife and can still hear the shocked intake of breath around centre-court as he removed the sample bottle from his shorts. Dan Maskell would have been turning in his grave.
Alternatively, I was less than diligent in my spell-checking/proof reading before hitting “submit”.
That explanation is so far-fetched I had to look it up to make sure you weren’t taking the p*ss. Turns out it’s completely true apart from a minor factual error – the interviewer was Virginia Weed.
Swiss won it last year (for the first tine I think) so Federer and Wawrinka rested for the Belgium match and lost.
I bet Andy Murray won’t play all ties next year. It’s not really an option for top players to play all the best tournaments, Grand Slams and Davis Cup every year. The schedule is pretty ridiculous.
It’s a great achievement & you can only beat those that you’re up against.
Murray played phenomenally well, winning all his singles matches throughout the whole campaign.
Next year’s first round ties will see most of the top players in action in the doubles, as they need an appearance to be eligible to play doubles at the Olympics.
But for now, let’s enjoy it!
Thundering typhoons!
Eddy Merckx- the greatest sportsman who ever drew breath. Won a third of all the races he started. At least once, the organisers of the Giro d’Italia paid him not to ride to give the rest a chance.
You forgot Johnny Hallyday.
And Jacques Brel