A shattered Andy Murray will wait until this morning before deciding whether or not to team up with brother Jamie after a draining opening defeat in the Davis Cup.

The Wimbledon champion was on court in the Glasgow Emirates Arena for five hours and seven minutes - the longest match of his career - only to eventually be edged out 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-4 by Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro in the first rubber of this semi-final.

In front of a bumper and partisan crowd the 29-year-old slogged it out with the man he overcame in a Rio blockbuster to retain his Olympic gold only last month.

It was a four-hour epic that night but this gruelling rubber went way beyond that as both men dug deep in an attempt to give their nation the upper-hand.

Prior to the marathon contest, Murray was due to join recently-crowned US Open doubles champion Jamie in their match up with Federico Delbonis and Leonardo Mayer this afternoon.

However, the world No.2 has confessed he will wait until this morning before deciding whether to put his body through another match ahead of facing Guido Pella tomorrow.

"Yeah, it was tough, yeah. I don’t know if it was a factor at the end," said Murray. "Both of us were pretty tired at the end. Both of us were going to be tired after that.

"I don’t know. I’ve never played a match that long, so we’ll have to see how I am tomorrow when I wake up.

"I will probably make a decision then. But I’ve never played a match that long. I’ve played matches close to that length – but none after an extremely long stretch of playing.

"So I don’t know how I’ll feel when I wake up."

It was a courageous effort from Murray in what were exceptional and difficult circumstances.

On the run up to this tie with Argentinian, the Scot and his brother were given the tragic news that their grandfather, Gordon Murray, had passed away.

To make the situation even more trying, the British No.1 made the brave decision to miss the funeral yesterday afternoon to represent his country. “It’s been hard," he said afterwards, "but I always planned on playing."

At 1pm Murray strode on to the court in Glasgow alongside captain Leon Smith without any backing music playing through the deafening tannoy system, but there were no signs early on that his mind was elsewhere.

Even with the imposing figure of 6ft 6in Del Potro on the other side of the net, the home favourite opened this match by holding serve, pulling off two breathtaking lobs in the process.

He went on to lose the first set but should great endeavour to claw himself level in a match that was on a knife edge for the duration. The second set was claimed with great composure as Murray played through a premature roar from the crowd on a Del Potro return to see it out, while he screamed at the thousands in the stands as he edged out the Argentinian in a tie break who could only send the Brit’s booming and decisive serve into the net.

However, the resurgent Del Potro could not be shaken off by a Murray who over the course of the match landed 35 aces to his opponent’s 19. A late flurry in the fourth was not enough to stop the Glasgow favourite losing the fourth set, before a crucial break at 3-3 saw Del Potro take a decisive break that Murray couldn’t claw back.

The 27-year-old Argentinian sealed the fifth with an ace in record time, becoming only the third man to beat Murray in the Davis Cup and the first to inflict a loss on the Scot for 14 rubbers.

“I did great today. I’m very proud of how I played. I thought I did fantastic,” said Murray.

“I fought for every point, tried as best as I could. That’s all you can do. So I did great today.”