Murray content with clay ahead of Davis Cup final

Andy Murray insists his transition to clay has been no problem ahead of Great Britain’s Davis Cup final against Belgium.

The world number two leads GB into the decider in Ghent, Belgium, starting Friday.

As GB eye a first Davis Cup crown since 1936, Murray’s preparation was the ATP World Tour Finals played on hard courts in London.

But the two-time grand slam champion has had an eye on the final since they booked their place by beating Australia in September.

Murray said he was happy with what he had experienced on the clay at the Flanders Expo.

“I do think the court is good,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.

“I only practiced on it once yesterday evening, and like Leon [Smith, GB captain] said it has been very cold in there yesterday and this morning.

“That changes the way the court plays and the way the ball travels through the air, so hopefully this afternoon and the next couple of days we’ll get to play in more similar conditions to the matches.

“But the transition has been fine. And I’m really glad I got the four or five days on the clay before the Tour Finals. That really helped me. I’m looking forward to it.”

In the wake of the Paris attacks on November 13 and subsequent raids in the France capital and Belgium, there were security concerns surrounding the Davis Cup.

There have been numerous arrests after anti-terror raids in Brussels, the Belgium capital.

Belgian number one David Goffin said his team had tried their best to focus on the tie.

“We didn’t really have to alter our plans apart from last Tuesday when we were supposed to watch the football game [Belgium-Spain] which was cancelled,” he said.

“But we didn’t really stop, we kept training, we continued to move forward, we trained as usual, we arrived here on Sunday, we trained every day.

“It’s true that day after day, sports events are being cancelled, but we have to focus on what we have to do, on our job. This is the only thing we can do.

“It doesn’t depend on us, we can’t do much apart from keep training, as long as the event goes ahead, and I hope it does, we’ll continue until the end.”

Goffin was thrashed 6-1 6-0 by Murray when the pair met in Paris, but he is trying his best to ignore that result.

If Belgium are to win their first Davis Cup, Goffin will likely need to beat Murray in their singles rubber.