Tearful Andy Murray dedicates Davis Cup win to grandmother after missing funeral to play match

An emotional Andy Murray dedicated his Davis Cup victory to his late grandmother, revealing that he missed her funeral to record a three-set victory over Switzerland’s Leandro Riedi in Manchester.

Andy Murray shows his emotion after leading Team GB to victory over Switzerland's Leandro Riedi in Manchester.

Murray was given the nod by captain Leon Smith for the opening rubber against the Swiss and the veteran Scot battled past the Davis Cup debutant in a three-hour epic to give Britain a 1-0 lead. He then broke down in tears during his on-court interview when he revealed he was missing his grandmother’s funeral to play in the match. “Today is a tough day for me, it’s my gran’s funeral today,” he said. “I’m sorry to my family that I’m not able to be there but gran, this one’s for you.” Murray then returned to his bench where he sat sobbing into his towel.

The former world number one had only lost three of his previous 35 singles matches in the competition and never to a player ranked as low as world number 152 Riedi. But the 21-year-old produced a performance well above that and, after failing to take his chances in the opening set, Murray needed all his nous to grind out a 6-7 (7) 6-4 6-4 victory in three hours and 10 minutes.

On the match itself, Murray said: “It’s obviously incredible to get through that one, it easily could have gone the other way. It was ridiculous the shots he was pulling off, amazing, amazing returning. I kept fighting and tried to stay focused and managed to turn it round.”