Andy Murray: 'Victory will reward years of hard work'

They looked like explorers about to set off for an assault on Everest rather than tennis players about to play a Davis Cup final, but given the mountains that Britain’s team have climbed in the last five years perhaps that was appropriate.

Andy Murray, who was wearing a woolly hat and thick coat on a day when it seemed just as cold inside the Flanders Expo arena as outside, said that beating Belgium here this weekend to give Britain their first triumph in the historic competition for 79 years would be reward for a great team effort.

“To win the biggest team competition in tennis, having beaten the other three Grand Slam nations, I think it would be a huge victory for everyone,” Murray said. “It would be well-deserved, as well. It’s taken a lot of time and hard work from many of the players, many of the staff, coaches, physios, everyone. It’s taken five years.

“I know when you win a Slam or a big competition, it’s obviously years in the works, but this is a bit different. The last five years has been a progression from a pretty low place in world tennis to playing for the biggest team competition.”

Given some of the headlines in recent days you might have expected the players to turn up in flak jackets rather than winter thermals, but Murray said the British team felt at ease. Ghent is only 35 miles from Brussels, which is on the highest level of terror alert following warnings of a possible Paris-like attack.

“It was obviously a bit concerning a few days ago,” Murray said. “Once we got here and got into the hotel, came to the venue and saw what it was like here, I think that made everyone a lot more comfortable.”

He added: “Here in Ghent, everything seems fine. It’s very quiet. I think it’s a really nice city. I hope as many [British] fans can travel over as possible to give us the best support, though we obviously understand if people make another decision because of what’s been happening in Brussels. A lot of people are travelling through there.”

Jamie Murray, asked whether he had had any doubts about the trip, said he had always planned on coming. “We’re here,” he said. “Business as normal.”

Leon Smith, Britain’s captain, said he would choose between Kyle Edmund and James Ward for the second singles spot behind Andy Murray “in the next day or two”. Edmund, who had a vigorous hitting session with Murray yesterday afternoon, had a long trip back from Uruguay at the weekend.

“I feel fine,” Edmund said. “It’s obviously helped me physically to go to South America and play on the clay. It’s not like I’m coming from a 12-hour flight and changing surface.”

Johan van Herck, the Belgium captain, said his team’s preparations had gone well, while Steve Darcis, his second singles player, added he had recovered from an ankle injury he suffered last month. “I’ve been practising on clay for three weeks,” he said. “I feel really good.”

The Expo arena is a huge complex of exhibition halls. Although both teams have been practising on the specially constructed indoor clay court, there is still much work to be done before the 13,000 fans – including some 1,300 from Britain – arrive for the first day’s play on Friday. For the moment the “British pub” and “Belgian café” signposted on opposite sides of the arena have yet to take shape.

Everyone will be hoping the arena will be warmer come the weekend. Smith joked about the cold – “It will be interesting to see how the conditions change when they finally shut the doors” – but the players like the court.

Murray, who pointed out that the playing conditions would change significantly when the atmosphere warms up, last played on an indoor clay court 10 years ago, in his second Davis Cup appearance for Britain away to Switzerland.

“Playing indoors tends to make things a little bit quicker, which helps obviously,” he said. “But I’ve only played on the court for a couple of hours in freezing-cold conditions. It’s hard to know exactly how the court’s going to play come Friday, but I liked it yesterday.”

Murray, who got in some practice on clay before returning to hard courts for last week’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, said he had been happy with the way he had coped with yet another change of surface. “The transition has been fine,” he said. “I’m really glad that I got the four or five days on the clay before the Tour Finals. That helped me.”

If the Scot is as sharp on the court as he is off it, the Belgians had better beware. Asked what he made of criticism by David Lloyd, Britain’s former captain, who said at the weekend that Murray did not put enough back into British tennis, the world No 2 delivered a magnificent put-down. “It’s a bit like background music,” he said. “You know it’s there but you’re not really listening.”