Andy Murray: Davis Cup glory makes lack of rest worthwhile

Andy Murray will barely have a fortnight’s break before returning to competition but the world No 3 is not complaining about the sacrifices he has had to make for the sake of his country’s Davis Cup team.

While most of his rivals were taking a rest after Wimbledon, Murray was giving his all to secure Britain’s quarter-final victory over France. He is due to begin his north American hard-court campaign at the Washington Open, which begins in just 13 days’ time. That is followed by back-to-back Masters Series tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati.

Murray, who has hardly had a day away from the court since the end of April, said that he would have taken 10 days off after Wimbledon if he had not been involved in the Davis Cup. However, he said the experiences the competition had given him this year, including the first-round victory over the United States in Glasgow, made it all worthwhile.

“You don’t get that in any other event, so you have a lot of memories from the Davis Cup and that’s one of the reasons you’re passionate to play,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed playing Davis Cup, but obviously right now we’re in the World Group playing against great players, top teams, big matches in front of a fantastic atmosphere, so it was very hard not to get up for that.”

While Murray will focus on his build-up to the US Open, Leon Smith, Britain’s Davis Cup captain, will start preparations for the semi-final at home to Australia from 18-20 September. A priority will be finding a venue to stage the tie – tournament rules say a semi-final venue must have a capacity of at least 8,000 – and which playing surface to choose.

The decision on the venue must be made by 7 August. “Obviously it has to happen quite quickly in terms of finding venues that are available, which is always a challenge,” Smith said. “We’ll talk about the surface first and foremost.”