Its been a long, long time
I suppose I’d better thank Andy Murray for giving me some blog material today, because I was trying to think of a subject to write about, then he did me a big favour, so…
The last time that Great Britain won the Davis Cup, the World Cup of Tennis for want of a better term, Jean Harlow was still alive! Yes, it really was that long ago, 1936 in fact. They reached the final again the following year, but that was it, until 1978, when somehow or other, they again reached the final, to be defeated. And lets be honest, apart from a few years when Henman, and Rusedski represented GB, we havent really had the players to get that far, on the whole, as a team at least. Indeed, just 5 years ago, they were one step away from dropping into the bottom rung of tennis, but this weekend…
Its hard to consider the difference in how things were arranged back then. Instead of having to battle through a number of rounds, as now, the reigning champions simply sat back, let everyone else battle it out, and then only play a challenge final. So in fact, the last time prior to 1978 that GB actually qualified for a final was 1933! To say getting to competitions back then was different too. None of this jetting around the world to play, as per now, of course, they didnt exist!
The other obvious difference back then too, all players were amateur! It was only in the late ’60s that professional tennis even became recognised as official! But this weekend, in Belgium, after 79 years, Great Britain again became the champions of the world. Fine, mainly because of one man, Andy Murray. We have a few other decent players now, but none in the top echelons of the sport. Ironically, Belgium were in the same position, with David Goffin.
But yes, its nice to know that after all this time, Britain is on top of the tennis world, yet again. Hey, I’m not a big fan of the sport, but lets face it, in terms of sports played by much of the world, we arent at the top of many! Great news!
Fine, the video. Bit like GB last winning the Davis Cup, its an oldie. Not quite that old, but it does mean I couldnt find a live performance, but besides all that…
stevielounicks 
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