Something strange is happening here. That should read something predictable, given that Andy Murray is involved.
The mood around the participation of one of Britain’s greatest sportsmen in the final tournament of his storied professional career no longer resembles a death-bed vigil.
It has been replaced by a slightly incredulous feeling that Murray might do something that would rank alongside his greatest achievements: win another Olympic medal.
He and his partner Dan Evans are in the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles at these Games after another incredible nail-biting epic on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Nobody thought anything could match the drama of their first-round great escape but Murray and Evans made fools of all of us.
After being taken to a final tiebreak set by the Belgian pair of Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, they saved two match points to move into the last eight.
When Evans put the final smash away to seal the victory, Murray danced and leaped around the court like a kid who had just been told he was going to Disneyland.
A month after an operation to remove a spinal cyst from his back, the guy with the metal hip may win a medal.
Hell, why should we put limits on him? Maybe he’ll win gold with the two singles gongs he already possesses from London and Rio de Janeiro. If anybody epitomises the idea of no limits, it is surely Britain’s bionic 37-year-old superhero.
The Belgians were no slouches. This is a specialist pairing that reached the final of the French Open on these red clay courts last year but Murray and Evans forced their way past them.
They will play either American third seeds Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul or the Dutch pair of Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer in the quarter-finals.
Unlike in the first round, the Britons started well. Evans saved two break points against his serve in the opening game and in the second game, Murray chased one angled volley almost into the front row of the stands to win the point and help him and Evans break at the first opportunity.
When Murray fired the pair into a 3-0 lead with a lovely topspin lob, it brought back memories of one of his great moments when the same shot, on the backhand side, won the Davis Cup for Great Britain in 2015.
The Britons were playing a wholly different brand of tennis to the uncertain, inconsistent fare they served up in their great escape against Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel on Sunday and Murray served an ace to take them into a 5-2 lead.
Evans survived another break point on his serve as he and Murray fought to close out the set and when a Belgian return sailed long to give them the point they needed, the British pair punched the air in unison.
With the second set level at 2-2, Evans chased a shot he had no right to reach and hoisted a lob that Gille mis-hit wildly to give the British the first sniff of another break of serve but the Belgians closed the game out and kept up the pressure.
