Murray-Djokovic can take Davis Cup to a different level

Murray has already committed to competing in all of Britain’s Davis Cup ties this year if he is fit

Murray lost to Djokovic in the final of the Australian Open in January (Getty)

There was a time not so long ago when tennis diehards feared for the future of the Davis Cup, but as Andy Murray pointed out in the wake of Britain’s victory over Japan in a packed Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham on Sunday, the competition is doing “just fine”.

The first round of this year’s World Group produced two particularly memorable matches, with Murray and Novak Djokovic beating Kei Nishikori and Mikhail Kukushkin respectively after five-set marathons which each lasted nearly five hours, yet even greater drama could be in store in July when Britain travel to Serbia in the quarter-finals.

Assuming that Djokovic and Murray are still No 1 and No 2 in the world come the summer and that both play, it is believed their meeting would be the first between the game’s two top players since rankings were introduced in 1973.

Murray has already committed to competing in all of Britain’s Davis Cup ties this year if he is fit, which could put extra pressure on Djokovic to play in front of his home crowd in July.

Given this summer’s gruelling schedule – Wimbledon, the US Open, the Olympic Games, the Davis Cup quarter-finals and semi-finals, plus the Masters Series tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati, are all crammed into a 12-week period – it would have been no surprise if Djokovic had decided to prioritise the Olympics.

Leon Smith, Britain’s captain, is excited by the prospect of taking on Serbia but does not accept that the quarter-final represents a greater challenge than any his team faced in winning the trophy last year.

“It’s difficult but I’m not sure it can get much tougher than when we played against France at Queen’s Club given their rankings, the depth that they had,” he said. “We’re also a very strong team. It’s not easy for them when you look at our list of players now.”

Murray thinks it will be possible to focus on several targets in a short space of time in the summer but said it would be important to be realistic about results. “You are unlikely to play your best in all of them and physically you are unlikely to feel perfect during all of them,” he said. “Wimbledon and the Davis Cup should be fine, but it is the accumulation of weeks and matches that you play. By the Olympics and the US Open, I would imagine you start to feel fatigued.

“It is completely normal and that is why, with your team, you have to be forward-thinking and planning days off in advance. It’s just about being smart, managing your time and body as best as you can.”

Smith said there was no player in the world he would rather head his team than Murray. “It is always the high-pressure matches where we watch him excel in terms of coming through fatigue, coming through stress, coming through difficult situations,” he said. “It is a privilege to sit with him in that chair, as much as it might seem stressful. You are getting to share the experience and just watch someone being able to cope with everything that is thrown at him. He finds a way. It is quite amazing.

“Everyone sees him and he looks so angry at times, but he is not. Once he gets it out of his system, he actually becomes quite focused quite quickly and manages to regain what he is out there trying to achieve.”