Andy Murray gave Great Britain a winning start in the Davis Cup, and then wept on court as he revealed he had missed his grandmother’s funeral in order to play.
The 36 year-old Scot received an outpouring of sympathy from a crowd of nearly 10,000 at the Manchester Arena after breaking down in front of on-court interviewer Naomi Broady immediately after the match.
Murray had just come through a 6-7 6-4 6-4 victory over Switzerland’s Leandro Riedi to put GB 1-0 up as they attempted make the finals of the competition, which take place in November.
Later Dan Evans and Neal Skupski claimed a deciding doubles match to seal a 2-1 win, putting the host nation top of the four-team group, ahead of Sunday’s final match against France.
Nobody, seemingly not even team management, had been aware of the outside events affecting Murray until Broady drew attention to a 90 year-old lady in the crowd who was attending her first ever live tennis match.
Immediately choked, Murray referred to the passing of grandmother Ellen, from the side of his father Willie: ‘Today is a tough day for me. It's my gran's funeral today. I'm sorry to my family that I'm not able to be there. Gran, that one's for you.’
Later the player explained: ‘I spoke to my dad about it and he said that, you know, she would want you to play. He said make sure you win, so I did.’
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