Ireland beat my beloved Turkey in the doubles today to win this Davis Cup tie even before the last round of singles.
The big bonus is the probable game against Britain in July now. Just need the Brits to win one of their singles games against Lithuania tomorrow. No harm at all for tennis in Ireland to have a bit of rivalry with them, and if Murray’s involved then there’ll be huge interest obviously from the likes of Bandage.
Excellent performances from Niland, King and McGee over the two days.
King and McGee were always comfortable in the doubles today. Sorensen was out with injury and then Niland pulled out this morning so this was no banker win. McGee was class in fairness to him and King did very well for a lad making his DC debut.
Turkish lads were disappointing enough. Ilhan was a quality player but the other lad just wasn’t up to this level at all and I think he only held his serve once. Great atmosphere in the Fitzwilliam today, the old place was bouncing. Hope those who went today are rewarded with tickets for the big one in July.
Unfortunately, the Brits fucked up losing to Lithuania today. Murray has given up Davis Cup, so they had a fairly shit team. Some guy called Dan Evans lost the decisive fifth rubber in five sets. They will now play Turkey in a play-off to decide who gets relegated to the lowest tier of Davis Cup.
On a wider note, the Davis Cup should probably be put out of its misery at this stage. More and more top players are pulling out of it and the format whereby it goes on all year does nothing really to generate interest in it. Maybe they could revamp it in some way, try to condense it or only play it every second year or something.
Its a bit like the railway cup in GAA, a once great competition sadly reduced to a shadow of its former self. Should have it as a season starting seaon ending tournament to try and revive interest.
Fantastic opening match against Hungary. McGee beats Kellner in fifth set having trailed 2-1 and 1-0. Lovely words of support from Judy Murray on twitter too.
Anyway the great news is we just beat Egypt today thanks to James McGee winning the fifth set of his encounter to give us a 3-2 win and avoid relegation.
How come it’s not in Fitzwilliam? I actually saw that ground for the first time ever a few weeks ago and resolved to go see Ireland the next time they play there. Disappointing.
McGee in a terrific match on Setanta at the moment. Trails 1-2 in sets. Had a break advantage in the fourth but lost it. Now leads 6-5 with the Finn to serve.