Why GB Davis Cup win really would be the greatest in their history

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The last time Britain won the Davis Cup (then called the International Lawn Tennis Challenge), they had a bye to the final. Which, of course, they played at Wimbledon against an Australian side who had travelled halfway round the world and finished their semi-final just three days earlier. The Aussies won three matches (one a walkover) to reach the final, whereas the Germans won five matches to win the European bracket, only to lose to Australia in the semis.

Seven of GB's nine wins were won in just one match - they also got a bye to the final in 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1934 and 1935 with five of those six matches at home. In 1912 they beat France in the semis before defeating the USA in the final.

Only in 1933 did they come through anything like the modern format: with France hosting that year (and thereby getting the bye to the final), the British team beat Spain, Finland, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Australia and the USA to make it to Roland Garros, where Fred Perry won the climactic match to seal a 3-2 win.

You can't blame the players for taking advantage of a comically lopsided tournament structure - and they still had to beat the best of the rest in the final - but it shows just how impressive a victory in 2015 would be.

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Murray is 6-for-6 in singles this year, and is expected to extend that streak to eight. While the Davis Cup format might seem to favour teams with just one excellent player, only one man has won all eight singles rubbers in a season since the World Group format started in 1981 - John McEnroe in 1982.

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His record in Davis Cup singles is superb: he only has two defeats in 29 matches, one coming back in 2005 when he was barely out of school, and the other coming against Italy's Fabio Fognini last year. Both matches were played on clay, worryingly; though more reassuringly, he has never been beaten by a Belgian in his entire career. He has four wins against Xavier Malisse, two wins over David Goffin and wins over both Christophe and Olivier Rochus.

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Belgium's David Goffin is a Davis Cup specialist, winning 11 of his 13 singles matches, including the last six in a row. Both his defeats came in five-setters, against Serbia's Viktor Troicki in 2013 and Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev in 2014.

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This is Britain's first appearance in the Davis Cup final since 1978, but Belgium's wait has been even longer: their only appearance to date was back in 1904, some 111 years ago. Spookily, their opponent that year was Britain, who went on to win 5-0. This is the 12th Davis Cup meeting between the sides, too; the only other encounter in the last 50 years, however, came three years ago when Belgium beat Britain in the quarter-finals.

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Before British fans get too excited about that stat, the previous four were all won by the home side. Before that, nine of the previous 15 had been won by the away side. Hardly conclusive, but certainly home advantage means a lot less than playing better tennis.