The Battle of Ghent

What had once been a refreshing Davis Cup final has turned more than a little nerve-wracking. Great Britain and Belgium, two of the more unlikely finalists in recent years, last played in the championship round 111 years ago. But after waiting so long for a rematch, the two teams and countries must do it in Ghent, Belgium, while the country is in the midst of a security lockdown. As they say: These are the times we live in. And as they also say: The show must go on.

As far as the tennis itself goes, this will be a weekend of what, on paper, look like wildly one-sided match-ups. Great Britain and Belgium each have one highly ranked player—No. 2 Andy Murray for the Brits, No. 16 David Goffin—followed by a cast of journeyman teammates. Can one of those journeymen pull off a massive upset? Or will it be decided by the doubles tie on Saturday? Great Britain, who has the best singles player in Murray, and the best doubles player in his brother Jamie, is the favorite. But the fact that these two teams are in the final in the first place should tell us that nothing is certain in Davis Cup this season.

One thing we can be pretty sure of is that the crowd, whatever security gauntlet they have to run to get there, will make itself felt and heard—it will be a sea of Belgian red vs. a smaller sea of British blue. The scene in the Belgian arena when the team clinched its semifinal two months ago was one of this season’s most deliriously joyous. We’ll see if they get a chance to repeat it, and forget their worries for a few minutes, on Sunday. Here's a look at the weekend's lineup of matches.

Goffin and Edmund have never played, which may be a good thing for Edmund, because the No. 16 Goffin is currently ranked 84 spots ahead of him. Adding to the 20-year-old’s long-shot status is the fact that he’ll be making his Davis Cup debut against a player who is 11-2 in singles when playing for his country. Is there any reason for Edmund and the Brits to hope? While Edmund has spent this season playing Challengers, he did win one of them on clay this fall. And as recently as a year and a half ago, Goffin himself was playing, and winning, Challengers.

As in the first rubber, the 28-year-old Murray and 27-year-old Bemelmans have never played. Maybe that’s because while the No. 2-ranked Murray was in the World Tour Finals in London last week, the No. 108-ranked Bemelmans was entered in a somewhat-less-elite club match in Europe—these two guys, it seems, don’t travel in the same circles. Nor do their Davis Cup singles records bear any resemblance to each other: Murray is 25-2; Bemelmans is 3-7. Soon to be 3-8, it seems. A Murray loss would be the upset of the year. (Yes, that includes Vinci-Serena.)

The first thing that must be said about the doubles is that it might not end up being these four on court—substitutions are allowed after the first day. Great Britain will almost certainly put the Murray boys out there. They provided the key point in the country’s quarterfinal win over France and semifinal win over Australia, and captain Leon Smith left another potential doubles player, Dominic Inglot, off the roster for the weekend. As for the Belgians, you may never have heard of 21-year-old, 501st-ranked Kimmer Coppejans, but he helped provide the clinching doubles point against Canada in the quarterfinals. If you’re wondering whether Goffin could be a last-minute sub here, the Belgians haven’t put him in the doubles yet this year.

If everything goes according to plan for the Brits, this is where Murray repeats his Wimbledon heroics of two summers ago and clinches the country's first Davis Cup since 1936. Judging by their last match in Paris two weeks ago, the Brits' hopes should be high—Murray beat Goffin 6-1, 6-0. They’ve played one other time, at Wimbledon last year, and Murray won that one in straight sets as well. Still, Goffin is a solid player, and Murray has yet to beat him on clay, and in front of a rabid home crowd.

If this fifth rubber is still live, then things decidedly did not go according to play for the Brits. There’s a good chance they would substitute in 156th-ranked James Ward, who provided a key point in the team’s first-round win over the United States, when he came back from two sets to beat John Isner 15-13 in the fifth set. There's also a chance that the Belgians would put in Darcis, who clinched their semifinal tie. At that late stage, you’d have to like the Belgian’s chances.

Winner: Great Britain