After the yelling and the leaping, the hugging and the sheer disbelief, Andy Murray returned to his seat and acted as if he had found a moment of silence amid the bedlam. Head in his hands, he tried to process the previous minute where his career teetered on the brink and then came roaring back once more. He can’t believe this. Can we? Not a chance. His Olympics show with Dan Evans goes on and the last dance gets another turn. As thrilling as the last time, as fraught with tension, two more match points saved to extend a career by at least two more days.
Because why not? Murray is making up the rules now. When you’ve already saved five match points and seen the end, you are playing with house money, even if it is potentially the final match of your career.
Murray and Evans summoned the spirit of what they found in that memorable escape in the opening round, first playing as if they had nothing to lose and everything to win, then digging themselves out of trouble again.
Two more match points saved, they won another final tiebreak to beat Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen to reach the Olympics quarter-finals.
The match tiebreak had the same scoreline as their miraculous escape against Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel, 11-9, but the previous two hours on a sticky, frenzied night on Court Suzanne-Lenglen couldn’t have been more different until it suddenly was.
Murray and Evans had been controlled and calculated, showing considerable improvement, only for Gille and Vliegen to save two match points of their own and force the madness that would follow.
Murray and Evans knew they had to improve having been so close to an opening defeat and the signs were encouraging from the very start. There was more purpose, and far better communication between the pair as Murray directed Evans’ serve by signalling with his fingers behind his back. After coming through an early scare, saving two break points in the opening game, Murray and Evans were much more reliable behind serve, at times rattling through the games.
Murray was snappier, moving better than on Sunday. The top speed is not there anymore but Murray covered the court sharply and through sheer willingness. As he almost crashed into the hoardings on the side of the court, Murray managed to steer a backhand pass to get three break points. From there, Evans lifted a perfect lob onto the baseline from deep into his forehand corner. Then, Murray produced the same shot but with own stamp: his trademark forehand lob landing well inside the baseline to move 3-0 ahead.
The assured start continued, Murray and Evans seizing chances to put volleys away at the net with greedy eyes. Murray’s serve also displayed improvement, landing an ace up the middle of the service box to stretch their lead. To close out an impressive opening set, a final test of resolve had to be passed: Vliegen, in his white hat, cracked a return for a crosscourt winner to give the Belgian’s a look at break point. Gille, in his red bandana, crashed his return into the net. Two points later, Murray and Evans were bounding back to their seats a set ahead.
The second set was far more even and although a tiebreak was amiliar ground for Murray and Evans after Sunday night, this one that was full of nerves as they twice stood a point away from victory. Both were saved. Instead, as Murray and Evans were left angered by a net-cord that was missed, Gille and Vliegen stayed alive. Evans, buckling under the pressure that affected both him and Murray, conceded the second set with a double fault. It threatened to be a reverse on Sunday night, where Murray and Evans were the ones to defy defeat and suffer heartbreak.
And so Murray stood once again with ten minutes to decided his fate, the match tiebreak swinging the direction of the Belgian pair. Two more match points. Two more moments that could have been the final moment of Murray’s career. Instead, Evans saved the first with the serve, Murray the second with a forehand winner, guided into open space. One more serve, a final smash from Evans. The shows goes on.