Andy Murray’s ‘unique’ title shot at winning an elusive Davis Cup

Three-time champion Jonas Bjorkman says the world No 2 has one of his best chances of winning the Davis Cup. But he tells Paul Newman​ the Scot will need all his mental and physical strength

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Jonas Bjorkman knows all about the pressures, the joy and the pain that playing in the Davis Cup can bring.

The Swede, who has taken charge of Andy Murray’s coaching for the last four months in the absence of Amélie Mauresmo, won the tournament three times and is well aware it can be gruelling both physically and mentally.

Having played on all three days of Britain’s quarter-final and semi-final wins over France and Australia respectively, Murray is likely to do so again in the final against Belgium in Ghent this weekend. Bjorkman, a former world No 1 in doubles and No 4 in singles, knows what a challenge that can be, having played on all three days of a tie on several occasions.

“I think anyone who has played Davis Cup – and particularly someone who has also played three matches in a row – knows how hard it is,” Bjorkman said. “It’s not only physically – because I think you can still work with that – but also mentally. It is draining.

“I know we didn’t have the same pressure back home in Sweden because we came off a nice run of winning the Davis Cup, but obviously everyone still expected us to keep on winning. With Andy’s situation it’s obviously something that has just come up all of a sudden now. It’s a massive opportunity.”

Bjorkman is particularly aware of the effort that Murray has put into the Davis Cup so far this year, the world No 2 having won all six of his singles rubbers as well as two doubles matches playing alongside his brother Jamie. Of the nine rubbers that Britain have won to reach the final, James Ward’s victory over John Isner was the only one not to feature Murray.

Now they are there, Bjorkman wants Murray to win one of the few prizes to have eluded him so far in his career because he knows how much it means to players.

Bjorkman played in 36 ties for Sweden between 1994 and 2008, winning 39 of his 64 rubbers. Although his compatriot Ulf Schmidt played in more ties (38), Bjorkman played over a longer period than any other player in Swedish history. Between 1975 and 1998 Sweden won the Davis Cup seven times and were runners-up on five other occasions through the efforts of Bjorkman, Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander. Bjorkman helped his country win three finals: against Russia in Moscow in 1994, against the United States in Gothenburg in 1997 and against Italy in Milan in 1998. He was also on the losing side against France in the 1996 final.

“I love the Davis Cup,” Bjorkman said. “I dreamed of winning it ever since I was 12 and watched Sweden beat the US in Gothenburg in 1984 with maybe the best team ever. That’s when my dream started. I thought hopefully I would represent my country, because for me that was the biggest achievement.

“To actually win it is something you are intensely proud of doing. To experience it with your team-mates and for your country is really something. So I definitely have that as a goal for Andy as well. I know how much it would mean to him.”

Bjorkman won 60 titles in his individual career but said that the Davis Cup was “unique” in that it provides a rare chance in tennis to play as part of a team. “I know that Pat Rafter said to me that he would have offered one of his US Opens for one of my Davis Cups,” Bjorkman said. “It means a lot for all the guys to represent your country so for Andy and the whole team it would be great.”

Bjorkman joined Murray’s entourage in the spring and has been in charge of his coaching ever since Mauresmo went on maternity leave after Wimbledon. The Frenchwoman is returning to action next month, when she will work with Murray at a training camp in Dubai and then travel with him to Australia.

Although Bjorkman will not be working with Murray in Australia – the Scot says he prefers to have only one coach alongside him at tournaments – he remains very much part of the Murray entourage and is happy to dovetail with Mauresmo.

“That would be the perfect, ideal situation for both of us because I think for Amélie now it’s going to be harder to do a full schedule,” he said. “If she’s happy to find something that works for her and Andy feels it’s a good schedule split between the two of us then that’s great.

“The most important thing is that we are there for Andy. We have to make sure that he has the best possible set-up and preparations. Whatever we can do to help him a few percentage points here and there so that he can achieve his goals, that’s the reason we’re there.”