Before we go any farther, Andy Murray can neither win the Australian Open nor should he feel obliged to pound multiple extra miles in the Davis Cup tie against the United States on the weekend after the championship. We should bite the bullet and prepare for a grand-slam event with no British contenders and accept that any idea of securing a World Group victory without him is illusory.
This is big-picture time. No doubt Murray would regard those opening statements as profoundly negative; whereas one would suggest that they are rooted in realism. Since his “minor” back operation in October, Murray has played three exhibition matches — the opening round of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open here was a 37-minute farce — one proper match in