HOME is the hero, home to what may be a sea of tears.

 

Andy Murray will step out on to court at the Emirates Arena tomorrow to the roars of a crowd who will be welcome him back to Glasgow for the first time as a Wimbledon champion.

He has form in the city when it comes to emotion, crying when playing Luxembourg in 2011. Murray, playing alongside his brother in Braehead, discovered the full force of a peculiar Glasgow kiss that was powerful in levels of noise but extraordinarily affectionate for a sportsman who is the epitome of the local hero.

Murray has triumphed on foreign fields against crowds roaring for a home favourite, he has won a Wimbledon title in front of spectators who have been divided in their loyalties to him. Most in SW19 have come to love him, some have not.

The Emirates will offer unconditional love. "Andy will be emotional," says his mother, Judy. "When he walks into the arena on Friday he will be overcome with the reception he will get. Obviously, he lives down south and is on the road much of the year, so he cannot make it up here very often. It will be a chance to see how much Scotland values him. He will be blown away."

The tears of 2011 in Braehead came after Andy and Jamie defeated the pride of Luxembourg, part-timer Laurent Bram and the then schoolboy Mike Vermeer.

If Leon Smith, Davis Cup captain, picks both brothers to play in the doubles tomorrow - a highly possible scenario even though Jamie and Dominic Inglot are the nominated pairing - then they will come up against the Bryan brothers, the best pair on the world.

They will also play in front of an impassioned crowd that will contain a proud mother.

"This is a very special one for me because anything when I watch them play together - the Davis Cup and the Olympics - that's been a much more powerful experience emotionally than watching them on their own or with another partner," she says. "The fact that it is in Scotland makes it particularly special. We have no major tennis events up here so it makes it all extraordinary."

The thrill of watching her sons has never dimmed for Judy Murray.

"They have both been at the top of the game for a long time in a sense you are used to it but you never take anything for granted because you never know what is around the corner," she says. "This is a sport that makes great psychological and physical demands so who knows how long either will go on? There are no guarantees."

His Davis Cup colleagues know that Andy is at a different level in terms of play but the world No.3 is regarded as a strong team mate.

"He buys into the team ethic," says is mother, who is the captain of the Federation Cup team.

"He played football right up until he was when he was 14 and then had to make the choice between it and tennis. He loved the team aspect," she says.

Murray's initial immersion in the Davis Cup was as part of an unofficial team of supporters who travelled to watch Team GB in Newcastle in 1996. "When he was growing up as a young player we did everything in big groups," says his mother. "We were like a Scotland team. We would pack up the minibus, put the Saltire in the back and head to conquer England," she adds with a smile. "We would do everything together and out strength was in our numbers. I always had a van full of kids with us all staying overnight at a Premier Inn. Brilliant.

"It was happy gang and they loved getting close to the top players." This group contained four future Scottish Davis Cup players in the Murray brothers, Colin Fleming and Jamie Baker. Two of the gang reconvene in Glasgow this weekend.

Judy Murray has, too, professional interest in another tennis team competition as captain of the Federation Cup team.

Great Britain have been stuck in the Europe/Africa Zone Group I and will play in it for the 12th consecutive year in 2016.

''It is a tough format because we are in a zone that is notoriously hard to get out of," says Murray.

The team meets every February for a series of matches in a specified city but came up short this year after falling to Belarus in their promotional play-off in Budapest. The team bookended a 2-1 defeat to Turkey with 3-0 wins over Liechtenstein and Ukraine to reach the play-offs, where Olga Govortsova and Victoria Azarenka proved too strong for Johanna Konta and Heather Watson, respectively.

"We have been in world group play-offs twice and lost out and it is important to get there so we can have home and away ties," she said. She described the Fed Cup near misses as "very frustrating" but knows there is hope hurtling over the horizon. Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith show potential as a doubles pairing and Laura Robson and Heather Watson are formidable singles players, if both remain fit. Robson is recovering from a wrist injury and Watson suffered from glandular fever in 2013.

"If we had the two of them together that would be a great inspiration for young girls in the country," she says. "We cannot fully use Fed Cup to exploit that until we are out of the group we are in. We are building a team and next year will be exciting as Laura and Heather will be playing in the Olympics."

Andy will be defending the Olympic title he won in London. "That was a huge thing for him to be in the British team in the biggest sporting event in the world," she says of the win at Wimbledon against Roger Federer, whom he beat a year later on the court to win the men's singles in SW19.

The Davis Cup is in Judy Murray's focus but she has a big occasion next month when Andy marries Kim Sears at Cromlix Hotel, near Dunblane.

"People always ask me are you looking forward to the wedding. Of course, I am. But I am not going to say anything about it. It is their wedding," she says.

She will instead concentrate on a family occasion this weekend when two of the Murrays walk down the aisle, together or separately, and into an arena packed with fervent well-wishers.