Davis Cup: How Leon Smith made a name for himself

Better qualified coaches could have been Davis Cup captain but it is hard to believe they would have had the same impact. Paul Newman in Ghent charts the rise of Leon Smith and his GB team

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Leon Smith remembers his first tie as Britain’s Davis Cup captain. In the wake of the most humiliating defeat in the country’s history, away to Lithuania, his team had to beat Turkey at Devonshire Park in Eastbourne in the summer of 2010 to avoid relegation to the Davis Cup’s fourth tier alongside the likes of San Marino, Armenia and Malta.

“I remember writing something on the flip chart before addressing the players for the first time,” Smith recalls. The message was simple: “A well-prepared team on a journey back to the World Group.”

The slogan, used repeatedly in Smith’s first three years, became redundant in 2013 as two promotions secured Britain’s return to the Davis Cup’s elite group. Another two years on and that well-prepared team are on the brink of the country’s first overall triumph in the competition since 1936.

Attention to detail has been a key to Smith’s success. If Britain do not beat Belgium in the final, which starts here tomorrow, it will not be down to any lack of preparation by the captain.

Smith does not fit into the typical mould for Davis Cup captains, most of whom are handed the job on the strength of their achievements as a player. Smith describes himself as “bang average” as a player, though he was good enough to represent Scotland.

Growing up in Glasgow, Smith lived across the road from Clarkston Tennis Club, where he would play every day after school. He admits his less-than-startling academic results did not leave him many career options. “I obviously wasn’t going to make any money playing and I wasn’t going to college or university, so I went into coaching,” he says.

Smith’s first job was as an assistant coach at Giffnock Tennis Club, Renfrewshire. He moved on to clubs at Troon and Bridge of Allan, near Stirling, before starting to take lessons for Tennis Scotland.

“That was where the journey started,” Smith says. “It took a few years of doing outdoor coaching, sweeping snow off the courts at Oban in the west of Scotland, and coaching through beautiful windy weather whilst hitting with a few good Scottish juniors.”

Smith first became aware of the Murray brothers when Andy was just five. Smith was 22 when Judy Murray asked him to coach Andy, who was 11 at the time. He remembers how disgruntled Murray was to lose when they played some points at the end of their very first training session.

Murray, nevertheless, thought the earring-wearing Smith was a cool character. On their first overseas trip together Murray won the Under-12s final at the Orange Bowl in Miami, contested by the world’s best young players. Smith coached him for the next six years and was struck at the time – in a sign of much greater things to come – how much Murray loved playing for his country in international team events.

Working with Murray proved Smith’s big breakthrough. “You need doors to open and you need to commit yourself to the job and I did commit myself to that job,” he recalls. “I ended up travelling a lot with Andy, forging a good relationship. Then other players in Scotland that I worked with started to do things internationally and it went on from there.”

Roger Draper, the Lawn Tennis Association’s former chief executive, recognised Smith’s talent and gave him rapid promotion through the coaching ranks. Smith, nevertheless, was surprised to be offered the job of Davis Cup captain. He accepted it only after thinking it over for a week.

“There was a whole raft of former players, British players and coaches who would have had a much, much stronger CV than me, but for whatever reason I got the opportunity,” he says.

Smith took over after Britain had suffered five successive defeats. Has he ever wondered what it would have been like if they had lost that tie against Turkey in his first match in charge? “Horrendous,” replies Smith.

Under his charge, however, Britain have lost only two of 13 matches. The captain, nevertheless, hands much of the credit to his dedicated team of coaches and back-room staff.

Confidence grew with early victories against lesser nations, many of them gained without the assistance of Andy Murray. “I think the fact that the guys had some time to play ties when Andy was away allowed them to grow as competitors in that Davis Cup arena,” Smith says.

Man-management has been a key to his success. He has never been afraid to take hard selection decisions, as he did before Britain’s semi-final against Australia when he dropped James Ward, a hero against the United States in the first round, in favour of Dan Evans, who had all but disappeared off the British radar.

This week Smith has been grappling with a similar decision as he chooses between Ward and Kyle Edmund for the second singles slot behind Murray. “Whoever doesn’t play will be extremely disappointed and it will take a lot of TLC from everybody to be able to pick them up,” says Smith, who is married with three young children.

Telling Ward or Edmund they will be left out would be one of the hardest conversations of his life. “I care about the players,” he adds. “You are at their matches, you are preparing them and supporting them – going through the lows and highs – and, of course, you forge a close relationship.

“But it’s like anybody who is in a leadership position. You have to take a deep breath and make some calls. That doesn’t mean to say they get any easier. You just have to park, as best you can, the emotional attachment to that individual and just deliver the news for the betterment of the team.”

His own job as captain will end one day, but so long as Smith is still out on the court coaching he will be happy. “Even now if I am asked to do a clinic for any of our sponsors or charities, getting on the court with the younger ones and helping, I love coaching,” he says. “If I was asked to go and be a club coach again next week, I could do it.”

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From Turkey shoot to Ghent - Smith’s incredible GB journey

July 2010 Needing to beat Turkey to avoid relegation to Davis Cup’s bottom tier, GB win 5-0 in Leon Smith’s first match.

July 2011 Andy Murray’s first match under Smith in the captain’s third, against Luxembourg in Glasgow. In his opening rubber he beats unranked Laurent Bram 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.

September 2011 Smith’s first full year in charge ends in promotion to Europe/Africa Group One thanks to 5-0 victory over Hungary in Glasgow.

April 2013 James Ward and Dan Evans bridge total gap of 392 places in world rankings to beat Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov and Evgeny Donskoy and complete Britain’s first win from 2-0 down in 83 years.

September 2013 Andy Murray beats Ivan Dodig in winning rubber as Britain win in Croatia to secure return to World Group.

February 2014 Britain beat US on clay in San Diego to record first victory in World Group for 28 years.

March 2015 Déjà vu as Britain beat US again.

July 2015 Just a week after playing in Wimbledon semi-finals, Andy Murray wins both his singles rubbers and doubles with brother Jamie in quarter-final victory over France.

September 2015 Andy Murray repeats performance against France as Britain beat Australia to win a Davis Cup semi-final for first time in 37 years.