British Davis Cup win down to Murray and Smith
Britain's five-year journey from the depths of the Davis Cup to the glory of Ghent is down to the superb playing skills of Andy Murray and the astute captaincy of Leon Smith.
The then little-known Smith, who helped coach Murray between the years of 11 and 15, took over as British national coach in 2010 when the team were facing relegation into the fourth and lowest level of the Davis Cup.
They survived a playoff match against Turkey and so began one of the most impressive revivals in team sport in recent times which culminated in Britain's first Davis Cup win in 79 years on Sunday with a 3-1 win over Belgium.
Murray, who won all three of the British points in Ghent, taking the doubles with brother Jamie, singled out the contribution made by Smith.
"Leon is obviously responsible for bringing everybody together as a team and having everyone perform their roles as best they can," the world number two said.
"I think you've seen by the performances of like James (Ward) in the match against the USA, even Kyle (Edmund) in the first match here, and all of the doubles rubbers this year.
"Even like before then, the match against Russia and stuff, which may not be talked about right now, but they're very relevant, a match where James and Dan (Evans) had big, big wins.
"Yeah, Leon and his team are responsible for getting us to play at that level so consistently and deserve a lot of credit for that."
Smith, however, said that organisation only counted for so much and that it would have been to little avail had it not been for the talent of Murray.
The 28-year-old Scot had one of the greatest years in the 115-year history of the team competition, winning all 11 rubbers - eight singles and three doubles he played in.
He is the first player to win eight live singles rubbers in a calendar year since the introduction of the World Group in 1981, and is only the second player to win 11 live singles and doubles rubbers after Croatia?s Ivan Ljubicic in 2005.
He is also the first player since Pete Sampras in 1995 to win three live rubbers in a Davis Cup Final.
- Grateful and proud -
"He's just incredible. But he'll be the first to say that this is a team effort, and rightly so," said Smith.
"What he's managed to do for this team is astonishing, to post that many wins in one year. He's put his whole body, his whole mind on the line every single time for the team. Really it's incredible. We're all grateful and proud of him."
Murray has already committed to playing in the first round of next year's Davis Cup when Britain host Japan, but he added that while the competition format was good, the timing could be better.
"I think that the timing is really what's the issue because the players, they put so much effort into the Grand Slams, the Davis Cup comes immediately after them, you're pretty tired at the end of the slams," he said.
"Most of the top players are going right through to the end of the majors. Slams are stressful, they're draining, physically and mentally. I think that's where the issue is a little bit.