Britain Expects home court advantage to bring victory against USA in the Davis Cup
After 115 years of Davis Cup history, it’s once again Great Britain against the United States – the two nations to compete in the very first matchup of the tournament. Led by the World’s No.5 Andy Murray who’s going to face Donald Young in the first match of the tie, the Brits will try to exploit the home court advantage and advance into the next round.
The British team leader is extremely pleased with the fact that the tie is going to take place in his hometown of Glasgow. “This is home. This is where I grew up. This is where my family live,” Murray told BBC Sport. “It's the biggest home tie that I've played. Because tickets sold out quickly, it shows that there's a passion here for the sport.”
Team USA captain Jim Courier also agreed that the home court provided his opponents with a significant advantage, which his team lacked in last year’s first round tie in San Diego. “I'm envious of the chanting and the cheering and the organization in the stands that the Europeans and also the Latin American teams tend to have versus our sad, pathetic, 'U-S-A' chant which is the only one we can seem to come up with!”
The weekend’s encounter between the two teams will be the 18th in a 115 year-long Davis Cup history with each team boasting nine wins a piece. And although Team USA holds the record of the most Davis Cup wins with 32 titles, eight out of nine UK’s trophies were lifted in the sight of the defeated Americans.
But all history will be forgotten when the two teams appear on the Emirates Arena court tomorrow. And despite the fact that Britain has the fifth best player in the world on their squad, the outcome of the tie is really difficult to predict.
In fact, out of all Davis Cup first round encounters, the Great Britain – USA matchup has the smallest difference in odds at the bookies with Britain being given a slight advantage at 17/20 with team USA at 19/20.
The Davis Cup tie between Great Britain and USA at the Emirates Arena starts tomorrow at 3pm with Andy Murray taking on Donald Young in the first match. The rest of the GB team will feature James Ward, Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot, while team USA will also have John Isner and brothers Bob and Mike Bryan in their selection.