Andy Murray and Roger Federer help Davis Cup recover some of its lost sparkle

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After years of head-scratching, the International Tennis Federation has come up with some new-look branding in the hope of revitalising the Davis Cup brand.

The venerable team competition is now appearing on posters as “the World Cup of tennis”, while a promotion entitled “Show Your Colours” is using each team’s flags as a rallying point for fans.

A desperate and underpowered attempt to regain a little of the cup’s lost limelight?

Time will tell, but let us not be too negative. This was already promising to be a good weekend for the competition before a ball had been hit.

For one thing, the return of Andy Murray and Great Britain to the world group has added significantly to its historical resonance.

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Their first-round tie against the US, which started on Friday night when Murray faced Donald Young at San Diego’s Petco Park, is a rematch of the first Davis Cup tie from Boston in 1900, which the hosts won 3-0.

The British team have underperformed for so long that a victory here would be their first in the world group since 1986.

And yet, only eight years before that, John Lloyd and Buster Mottram faced John McEnroe and his fellow Americans in another epic: the 1978 final at Palm Springs.

Perhaps it is jingoistic to suggest that the resurgence of Great Britain – which has been powered by some inspired selections by team captain Leon Smith and an array of strong doubles players – benefits the whole competition.

But everyone loves to beat the Brits, in any sport. It is just that, in tennis, those victories are slightly less easy to come by than they used to be.

Meanwhile, Switzerland’s attempt to land a first Davis Cup title has been boosted by Roger Federer’s decision to participate in the first match of the year.

Normally, Federer leaves Stan Wawrinka – the Australian Open champion – in charge and rides in at the last gasp to head off relegation in the September play-off.

This year, though, Federer seems to have been inspired by the possibility of actually winning the competition.

And it is hard to see who might stop the Swiss champions if both stay fit and available throughout the season.

Until yesterday, the last nation to combine two individual grand slam winners was Spain, which brought together Rafael Nadal and Juan Carlos Ferrero in 2005.

After Nadal came within a match of adding a 14th grand slam title to his tally in Australia a week ago, it is easy to see why Federer might want to shore up the only gap in his otherwise impeccable CV: the lack of a Davis Cup title (Nadal, by comparison, has four.)

Success in the final in 10 months’ time would certainly add another wrinkle to the ongoing “greatest of all time” debate.

But whatever Federer’s motivations, it was encouraging to see the most lauded figure in the sport return to the fray against Serbia on Friday, easing past Ilija Bozoljac in straight sets in Novi Sad.

The only shame is that he will not be playing Novak Djokovic on Sunday, for the world No2 has opted for a skiing trip to his childhood home of Kopaonik instead.

Here we see the chief difficulty of team competitions in men’s tennis.

For the best part of a decade, the sport’s narrative has revolved around the crunching collisions between the super-elite in the final stages of grand slams.

Yet when was the last time this happened in the Davis Cup?

The same problem applies to the proposed International Tennis Premier League, a plan to create star-studded teams based in four Asian cities, which is being assembled by former doubles champion Mahesh Bhupathi.

You could see Murray or Djokovic agreeing to hang out in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur for a couple of weeks in December; they would be doing warm-weather training somewhere else at that time of the year anyway.

But it is hard to see them clocking up any extra miles by making the journeys to away trips, which would forestall the tastiest match-ups.

The variety and passion of the Davis Cup make it an important cog in the calendar, even now. Y

et until the big names start to “show their colours” more often, the competition will continue to struggle for airtime.

 Davis CupSport »Tennis »Andy Murray »Roger Federer »Simon Briggs » 

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St Lucia yacht murder: Four men charged with Roger Pratt's death

By Raf Sanchez, Washington

8:07PM GMT 25 Jan 2014

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Four young St Lucian men have been charged with the murder of British yachtsmen Roger Pratt.

The 62-year-old retired consultant was beaten and left to drown and his wife, Margaret, was injured when robbers attacked their yacht last Friday.

One week after the killing police brought the first murder charges against four men arrested nearby in the southern port of Vieux Fort.

The government named them as Richie Kern 21, Kervin Devaux 31, Fanis Joseph, 21, and Jeromine Jones, 21. All are from the shanty town of Bruceville.

They appeared briefly before a district court in Vieux Fort to face charges of murder and robbery on Friday and are due back in court on February 4.

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A spokeswoman for the St Lucian prime minister, Kenny Anthony, said: "It is very encouraging to see that information provided by the local community has led to arrests and to charges.

"We will be monitoring this case carefully and hope it will serve as an example that this kind of activity is unacceptable and will not go unpunished."

A post-mortem examination concluded that Mr Pratt's killers beat him with their fists until he was knocked unconscious and then let him drown in the harbour.

The St Lucian government has been anxious to see a swift prosecution in order to reassure the British and American visitors upon whom the island's tourist economy depends.

 Central America and the CaribbeanNews »Saint Lucia »UK News »Crime »Raf Sanchez »

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Australian Open 2014: Roger Federer to face Andy Murray in quarter final after defeating Jo-Wilfred Tsonga

Class act: former world number one Roger Federer looked very good against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, and managed to keep the Frenchman's power at bay Photo: AP

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Australian Open 2014: 'Jo Wilfried-Tsonga was a big test for me' says Roger Federer

Roger Federer says he is "surprised how things worked out for me" following his trouncing Jo Wilfried-Tsonga 6-3 7-5 6-4 at the Australian Open, a victory which sets up a quarter final with Andy Murray 3:44PM GMT 20 Jan 2014

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Australian Open 2014: Andy Murray v Roger Federer, first of the year's 'superclashes'

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What did Stefan Edberg say to Roger Federer before he took the court on Monday?

Something to the effect of “Courage, mon brave,” judging by the way Federer kept rushing the net like a dervish.

The question is whether he will be as bold – or as clinical – against Andy Murray on Wednesday.

There is no such thing as a dull meeting between Federer and Murray, but this one promises to be especially fascinating.

If the 2014 Australian Open has been the tournament of the supercoaches, this will be its first superclash.

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This quarter-final might almost sound like a reconstruction staged by a historical society, given that Edberg and Ivan Lendl faced off no fewer than four times in Melbourne, withhonours shared at two wins apiece.

In broad terms, their modern charges look to follow the same patterns: Federer coming forward to volley like a more debonair Edberg, Murray pursuing the “power baseline” game that Lendl all but invented.

But if the outline might be familiar, the staging will be completely different. You might as well compare West Side Story to Romeo and Juliet.

Tennis culture evolves, and the best players evolve faster than the rest.

Indeed both Federer and Murray have moved on significantly since they last faced each other, in the semi-final of this event a year ago.

Federer has not just hired Edberg, but fixed his back trouble and switched to a larger, 98-inch racket, which has been working supremely well for him over the past week.

Lendl and company might not want to study Monday’s 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga too closely, for fear of becoming demoralised.

It felt like a flashback to Federer’s salad days.

As for Murray, he has not just won Wimbledon but addressed a chronic injury of his own by having an irregular piece of bone shaved off one of his vertebrae.

He has returned to the tour with more mobility than we have seen from him in at least 18 months, particularly on his double-fisted backhand, which is now smoother and more adaptable. The downside is a lack of matches.

We saw a hint of this on Monday when Murray faced Stéphane Robert, the first lucky loser to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open, and a man who belongs on a different plane of the sport.

As Murray said: “I dominated 95 per cent of the match.” But the other five per cent arrived at an inconvenient moment.

At the end of the third set, Murray had two match points on his own serve at 5-4, and then two more in the tie-break, but allowed them all to slip away – an aberration that cost him an extra half-hour on court.

It was a good thing that in the fourth set his superior conditioning kicked in, as Robert started cramping and Murray – who had comprehensively destroyed one of his rackets just before it started – eased to a 6-1, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 victory.

He still spent only 2hr 42min on Hisense Arena (half an hour less than Rafael Nadal needed to subdue Kei Nishikori in three sets on Monday), so that outbreak of ‘Fergie time’ was hardly a disaster.

But it was hard to imagine a fully match-tight Murray wasting so many opportunities.

Unless, of course, he happened to be playing Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.

“I can’t honestly say my expectations are as high as if I’d been playing for the last four months,” Murray admitted.

“It’s been a good effort to get to the quarter-finals of a slam this soon after back surgery.

But now I’m not far away from winning the event. Anyone that’s in the quarters is close.”

Murray is covering all eventualities there.

But then, it has been hard to gauge the level of his tennis – probably even for Murray himself – because of the eccentric cast list thrown up by the draw.

Uniquely, in his history of 32 grand slams, he has faced three opponents outside the top 100.

While Murray was happy to ease his way into the tournament, this was not perhaps the ideal preparation for facing Federer – a shot-making genius whose new racket appears to have shaved at least a couple of years off his age.

“Roger took the ball very early today, and he was always taking my time away,” a chastened Tsonga said. “Everything was going quick. He was playing unbelievable.”

The odds must incline towards Federer, which is not something you would have anticipated when he blew up so horrendously against Tommy Robredo at the US Open.

That was only four months ago, and yet this great magician has shown an ability to regenerate that would impress Doctor Who.

Expect him to step into the court against Murray’s second serve – a long-time weakness that had improved significantly under Lendl’s guidance, but appears to have regressed again during Murray’s time off.

Against Robert, Murray averaged 82mph on the second serve, and won 52 per cent of the points.

Federer’s equivalent figures were 94mph and 69 per cent, even though he was facing a much stronger opponent.

“I like playing the best,” Federer said, sounding more bullish than he has for a while.

“And you need to take it to them. You need to play aggressive against the top guys, me included.

"You don’t want to wait for stuff to happen. I think that usually is good for success.”

Murray’s record against Federer is a mixed one: 11 wins from 20 meetings, but only one win from four meetings in the grand slams.

That came here, in last year’s semi-final, when Federer became so frustrated that he blurted an unprintable epithet in Murray’s direction.

Since then, the great man has been short of form and certainty.

But whoever wins, the conclusion will be the same. “He’s back.”

 Australian OpenSport »Tennis »Andy Murray »Roger Federer »Simon Briggs »

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Andy Murray v Roger Federer: Ivan Lendl says British No 1 is ready to go 'toe-to-toe' with big guns

Up for the fight: Andy Murray faces Roger Federer for a place in the semi-finals at Melbourne Park Photo: EPA By Telegraph Sport, and agencies

1:13PM GMT 21 Jan 2014

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Andy Murray v Roger Federer preview: Australian Open quarter-final sees rivalries renewed with Lendl v Edberg

On Wednesday morning, two giants of the game - Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg - will take their places on Rod Laver Arena while their charges prepare to battle it out

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Andy Murray beaten by Roger Federer in Australian Open quarter-finals as Swiss sets up Rafael Nadal semi-final

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An exhausted Andy Murray saw his Australian Open dream fade away on Wednesday night, as he was unable to match a classy performance from a revitalised Roger Federer.

This tournament has been a story of near-misses for Murray in the past, but 2014 had seemed to offer possibilities when Novak Djokovic went out in the quarter-final and Rafael Nadal developed a blister on the palm of his serving hand.

Yet Federer was too strong, closing out a 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 victory with an ace to reach his 11th consecutive semi-final in Melbourne. Afterwards, Federer suggested that “Andy might have been carrying something,” based on the way Murray lost pace – both around the court and on his serve – as the match went on.

“My serve slowed down a bit in the fourth set,” Murray admitted in the interview room, “especially the first of couple points when I was getting up after the change of ends. But I've come a long way in four months. Obviously right now I'm very disappointed.

“There's maybe some things I would have done a bit differently if I was ever to have surgery again. But it's the first time I ever went through something like that. I don't know how many players have come back from surgery and won the first grand slam back. It’s very unlikely to happen.

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“A lot of work went into this slam compared with other ones where you have a few weeks to prepare. This time I had a long time to prepare, maybe just not enough matches.”

Murray must be cursing his luck that he never ran into Federer during the great man’s form slump in the latter part of last year. Instead, he came up against a man reborn, a shot-making genius whose new 98-inch racket has transformed his game like a magic wand.

Federer was mesmerising in the first two sets as he served with dead-eyed precision, drifted into the net with the stealth of an assassin and coughed up none of the cheap errors that had characterised his play last season.

Murray played some strong tennis himself – perhaps not on a par with the inspiration he delivered at Wimbledon seven months ago but still solid by any normal standard. And yet he did not earn a single break point until the end of the third set, a remarkable statistic for a man who normally returns so well.

It was only at the moment of last resort that Murray roused himself. He was broken in the ninth game of the third set with the help of a controversial pick-up by Federer that flew over his head at the net. A slow-motion replay revealed that the ball had bounced twice, just a fraction before Federer made contact with it.

At the next changeover, Murray got stuck into umpire Pascale Maria for the error, and Maria seemed to be asking whether he wanted to call the supervisor. Instead he came out fuelled by a grievance and finally earned a break – even as Federer was serving for the match – to help force the set into a tie-break.

Federer had to put up with more frustration as Murray saved two match points, coming back from 6-4 down in the tie-break to take it 8-6 and take the contest into a fourth set.

The pace of play slowed down a little now, as Federer started showing signs of tension and Murray clearly began to struggle with his body. In the eighth game, Murray muffed three consecutive forehands to go 0-40 down, and though he summoned up a couple more big serves, he could not stave off the inevitable for long.

“Roger started off the match playing great, great tennis,” said Murray. “He plays a pretty high tempo, so the points are fairly quick‑fire. The ball's coming at you quickly. As much as I would have liked to have returned better, he served very well.

“I changed my tactics a little bit, started playing a little bit more aggressive, and that was maybe my undoing at the end, because I really started going for my shots to get myself back into the match. When I got broken in that fourth set, I went for three balls. Maybe one or two of them weren't there to be hit.”

Federer was slick and confident enough to raise real optimism that he might be able to challenge Rafael Nadal, his greatest nemesis, in Friday’s semi-final. Murray tried to unpick his backhand side but it was rock solid, whether on the slice or the topspin drive.

Murray and his camp must have expected that Federer would win most of the shorter points. Federer is so good at the one-two punch – a big serve followed by the scything forehand winner.

What might have surprised them was the way Murray was unable to get any purchase in the longer rallies. Federer moved with ease and grace along the baseline and timed his sallies to the net with total authority. His defence has rarely looked better.

It was a masterpiece of tactics as well as execution, and suggested that the input of Stefan Edberg has been as much of a factor in Federer’s vastly improved performances at this tournament as the new Wilson racket.

 Australian OpenSport »Tennis »Andy Murray »Roger Federer »Simon Briggs »

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Andy Murray v Roger Federer, Australian Open 2014 quarter-final: live

Follow build-up and game-by-game commentary of the Australian Open quarter-final match between Andy Murray and Roger Federer at Melbourne Park on Wednesday January 22, 2014

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Australian Open 2014 highlights: Andy Murray against Roger Federer

Watch highlights of the quarter final match in which Roger Federer beats Andy Murray in four sets to set-up an Australian Open semi-final showdown with Rafael Nadal 2:14PM GMT 22 Jan 2014

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Andy Murray sent packing by a fast and furious Roger Federer in Australian Open quarter-final

A rejuvenated Roger Federer ruthlessly exposed Andy Murray's lack of match fitness to breeze into the semi-finals of the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 victory over the Wimbledon champion

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ATP World Tour Finals: Roger Federer tries to silence critics as he faces Novak Djokovic

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North Greenwich will be transformed into a miniature Swiss canton on Tuesday evening, when Roger Federer makes his entry to a tournament he has won six times. He is always the best-supported player at the O2 Arena, even when drawn against Andy Murray last year. But is he slowing down?

That was the suggestion made on Monday by Novak Djokovic, Federer’s opponent. Was it a knowing challenge to the authority of the great man?

Probably not, for Djokovic was simply offering his opinion on the question, “What has changed in Roger’s game this year?” But given the touchiness of Federer’s legion of fans, it was still a bold thing to say.

“From my point of view he hasn’t been moving as well this year as he did the year before and that’s one of the reasons why he hasn’t had much success this year,” said Djokovic. “But he is Roger Federer. He has had achieved so much in his career and he is never to be underestimated as long as he plays tennis.

“He has an incredible quality in his game. Even though he is moving maybe slower than he used to, he is still striking the ball really well. And if he strikes the ball well that day he can beat anyone.”

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Djokovic is speaking from a position of strength, for he has won both his most recent meetings with Federer – the last one in Paris only three days ago.

In both cases, he came out with an obvious desire to convey the message “Move over, this is my time”.

Privately, Djokovic is frustrated that, despite spending the best part of two years as world No 1, he still lags far behind Federer on any survey of social media or global recognisability. He is discovering that excellence is not enough in men’s tennis these days, for Federer’s insouciant charm still casts a long shadow.

As for Federer himself, he recognises that 2013 has been a thin year. But would he acknowledge the argument that – at 32 years old and with 1,034 matches behind him – his powers might be waning? No chance; you might as well suggest that he dye his hair pink.

“I disagree with it because last year I was world No 1 at some point, and I was 31,” Federer told the BBC on Monday. “So at 32 you can’t play tennis any more? I just don’t believe in that quick a turnaround.”

Does he think that he can win an 18th grand slam next year? “The French Open is always going to be hard as long as Rafa Nadal is around,” Federer replied. “But on the other surfaces, if I am playing well, it’s more in my racket than in anybody else’s racket.”

While Federer inspires slavish devotion among the majority of sports fans, there has always been a small minority who react against his aura of total assurance – the sense that he could probably beat Felix Baumgartner’s free-diving record if he so chose, or captain a clipper to the America’s Cup.

Yet Federer could not have achieved everything he has in the game without fancying himself just a little. His certainty is his armour, and as long as it endures, he will not even consider the question of retirement. Setbacks are temporary; the quest for glory goes on.

On Tuesday evening, Federer will certainly believe that he can reverse the recent pattern against one of his most dangerous rivals. A point in his favour is the short turnaround between this tournament and the previous one. Djokovic came in on the Eurostar on Sunday night and has had only the briefest chance to prepare.

“It is right away the biggest challenge I could have,” said Djokovic. “To recover and get ready for these conditions and try to play as well as I did in Bercy.”

There will be a similar situation in Tuesday’s first singles match, which bizarrely also recreates one of Saturday’s semi-finals from Paris. In this case, Nadal will be the slightly more rested player, for he suffered a rare loss to his opponent David Ferrer last week.

“For the moment I didn’t adapt very well

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