LEON SMITH gazes wistfully across the courts at Craiglockhart and recalls the bit part he played the last time the big hitters of world tennis were enticed to Scotland.

Twenty-five years ago this year, the Great Britain Davis Cup captain and head of men's tennis at the Lawn Tennis Association landed the rather daunting assignment of being ball boy as John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors fought out the final of the Scottish Grass Court Championships in Edinburgh, the last instalment of a three-year stretch when it served as the major tune-up event for Wimbledon.

Both men were past their prime by then, but the rivalry still crackled. McEnroe prevailed, courtesy of two tie breaks, but not before defaulting a point, then an entire game, for first racket abuse then an audible obscenity. Plenty has changed in the intervening quarter of a century - for a start the UK-based grass court tune-up events are played at Nottingham, Birmingham, Eastbourne and the Queen's Club - but Smith feels that bringing Andy Murray and the Great Britain Davis Cup team to a packed, 7000-capacity Emirates Arena in early March can replicate that same excitement for a new generation of Scottish kids.

While Scotland has hosted four Davis Cup matches since 2006, and even McEnroe returned to Edinburgh last year for a seniors tour event, this will be the first World Group match played in Scotland, and the first anywhere in the UK since 2008. Barring accident or injury, it will also be Murray's first competitive appearance in the city of his birth since a 2011 Davis Cup match against Luxembourg. Opponents USA, under the tutelage of former world No.1 and multiple grand-slam winner Jim Courier, might have lost to Great Britain 3-1 in San Diego in February, but 6ft 6in Sam Querrey and 6ft 10in John Isner are the very definition of big hitters, and the greatest doubles pairing in history, Bob and Mike Bryan, aren't exactly slouches either.

"I used to come here and watch and I was even a ball boy, back when I was 10 or 11," said Smith, also Murray's first coach. "Seeing guys like McEnroe inspired me. I'm sure there will be a ton of kids coming to watch our match against the US and they'll have a great time, watching exciting tennis - and pick up a racket and want to play.

"The fact a Wimbledon champion comes from Scotland means it's important to bring it here. We've had a lot of Scottish representation on our Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams over the last 10 to 15 years. There is also so much activity south of the border for tennis, chances for people to go and watch world-class tennis.

"And it doesn't have to stop at Davis Cup. In the future, there must be opportunities to look at big events, more regular events. Whether that is exhibition tournaments or not, obviously an ATP or WTA Tour event would capture the imagination."

The real star attraction, however, is Murray himself, the 27-year-old having reeled off some of the best back-to-back wins of his career to qualify for next week's ATP World Tour finals in London.

"When Andy Murray walks out in front of 7000 fans in Glasgow, he's going to feel it," said Smith. "The warmth of that crowd. I look back to the Luxembourg match, when he played Gilles Muller - and I think he lost two points on serve all day. He was like a man on fire."

The same goes for his current form. "His passion is there for everyone to see," said Smith. "The match points he saved against [Tommy] Robredo … one of them, if there was a second court, he would have been on it! He would do anything to get that ball back in play. If we can have that live, especially getting our up-and-coming players to see it close up ... they'll see what it feels like to work that hard, to chase every ball down, and be brave."

Like his charge, Smith has also come a long way. For all the sniping that accompanied the appointment of a Davis Cup captain with such relative inexperience, Smith has galvanised this side, inspiring even Murray-less teams past respected opponents such as Slovakia and Russia. With a little help from a few training blocks with the Scot, James Ward now stands on the verge of a breakthrough into the world's top 100, while Smith had the privilege of masterminding that February win against Courier.

"He certainly dresses better than me," Smith recalled. "But I enjoyed it last time because they put down a clay court - and his trousers definitely got dirty at the bottom."

The two Scots will re-convene as part of Team GB in March, cognisant of the fact that had things gone differently in September, they could have been playing Davis Cup tennis under a different flag. "It is what it is now," said Smith. "We move on. But it is good that this is coming to Scotland, to show yet again how keen Andy is to wear that GB shirt with pride in Scotland.

"I think back to the slog of early-morning sessions, getting Andy before school, doing a tennis session at Stirling, taking him back to school, picking him up and doing it all over again in the afternoon …

"Those are the days I look back on and think: "My God. We're actually going to walk out and play the USA in the Davis Cup, looking across from Jim Courier just a few metres away, in front of a Scottish crowd'. It's changed days. But Scottish tennis deserves this. It deserves to see this level of competition."