Boos rang out around the Emirates Arena before the start of this last day of Davis Cup play as we have come to know it.
It was the stadium announcer mentioning the changes to the historic competition's structure that sparked the displeasure, at a venue that has witnessed some of GB's finest performances since the war.
This was not to be the only note of discord, as Great Britain finished off Uzbekistan in slightly anti-climactic fashion to close a long chapter in the event's 118-year history.
Great Britain beat Uzbekistan in the Davis Cup after Cameron Norrie defeated Sanjar Fayziev
The acting British No 1 defeated Uzbekistan's Fayziev 6-2 6-2 6-0 to put the home side 3-1 up
Cameron Norrie put behind him his torrid experience of Friday night - when he lost to second string Jurabek Karimov - by making short work of another little known opponent, Sanjar Fayziev, 6-2 6-2 6-0.
It put the home side an impregnable 3-1 up and caused the abandonment of the dead rubber that was due to feature Dan Evans.
Some of the crowd were clearly not happy with that, either, having had only one hour and 53 minutes of competitive tennis. It was a sharp contrast to the events of Friday, which had gone on well into the evening.
Norrie's path had been smoothed by the late withdrawal of Uzbekistan's one truly high class player, world No 60, Denis Istomin, due to an ankle injury. The old Davis Cup went out very much with a whimper rather than a bang.
Now it is on to the brave new world for the competition fashioned by the International Tennis Federation in partnership with the Kosmos marketing group, which is headed by Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique.
This weekend's victory means that Great Britain will get seeded for the new play-off round next February, whose winners will go on to play in an 18-nation event held over a week.
Fayziev played after the late withdrawal of world No 60 Denis Istomin with an ankle injury
It could help, but not necessarily. If GB are drawn at home, Manchester or Brighton are potential hosts for the match.
It is conceivable that Leon Smith's team could get one of the two wildcards into the finals week that by-pass the qualifying round, although these might go to Serbia and Switzerland, teams of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
Their allocation is a vexing question, and as Smith pointed out: 'It's difficult to have objective criteria. I'm really interested to see how they do it, and their justification for who they give the wild cards to. Clearly we'd be a strong candidate based on the last three or four years in the competition, and how we've hosted ties.'
Of the coming changes he said: 'What's happened has happened, the vote has gone ahead and we will embrace this next challenge because we definitely want to be part of it and see what the finals are like.'
The coming format will be different, played over two days featuring five best-of-three set rubbers. Those days will be a Friday and a Saturday, with the doubles point expected to be the first contested on the second day.
There are still plenty of aspects that are unclear. Madrid is the favourite to be announced as host city for the finals week, with matches taking place at two, or possibly even three different venues around the city.
Norrie reacts during the second set against Fayziev during day three of the Davis Cup match
The date is still not known with Pique and his backers facing a battle to carve out the September slot in the calendar that they now desire. The original plan was to have it in November after the ATP Finals at the 02 Arena, but unsurprisingly the players have said this is less than satisfactory, interrupting an already brief off-season.
Either way it is going to look very different to 1900, when Great Britain first faced off against the USA in a challenge match organised by Dwight Davis at Longwood Cricket Club in Boston. The Davis Cup has gone on to become, by nations competing, the world's largest annual sporting event.
The effect that competing for a team can have on a player has been vividly demonstrated this year by Norrie, whose Glaswegian father made a trip from the family home in New Zealand to be here.
He performed heroically against Spain on his debut in February, but was crippled by nerves on Friday as he tried to finish off Karimov after leading two sets to love.
On Sunday he looked nervous at the start when tackled Istomin's stand-in, broken in his opening service game.
Gradually, however, he began to play more expansively against the world No 516, and showed why he has risen to No 70 in the world rankings, and why he is reckoned to be one of the best players to have emerged from the American college system in the last 10 years.
He cruised home in the end, but neither he nor Friday's winner, Dan Evans, may play next year if both Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund, who skipped this tie, are back on duty.
Link article
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/16/great-britain-beat-uzbekistan-in-the-davis-cup/
Main photo article Boos rang out around the Emirates Arena before the start of this last day of Davis Cup play as we have come to know it.
It was the stadium announcer mentioning the changes to the historic competition’s structure that sparked the displeasure, at a venue that has witnessed some of GB’s...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Sport HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2018/09/16/14/4319206-6173333-image-a-1_1537104593910.jpg
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