Dan Evans is held aloft by his team-mates after his win
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"This job is done but we have to move British tennis forward. This is just a start."
The "job" Leon Smith was referring to was ensuring Britain's Davis Cup team avoided relegation to the competition's fourth and bottom tier - an embarrassment they managed to avert by beating Turkey in July 2010.
Two summers ago GB's Davis Cup team were floundering, one defeat away from total obscurity. And yet, fast forward 19 months, and a fifth-consecutive win under Smith presents an entirely different picture: one coated with optimism, for a start.
There were murmurings of disapproval when Smith was installed as the new captain in April 2010, his CV not substantial enough for some. Having worked with a number of clubs in Scotland, he linked up with Andy Murray for a spell, before becoming academy coach for Scotland in 2002. And from there it was onwards and upwards: from national training coach he joined the LTA ranks as national under-16 men's coach in 2007, took the reins with the under-18s a year later, before being promoted to head of player development for men's tennis in 2009.
A wafer-thin CV? Hardly. For many, Smith simply wasn't a big enough name, but LTA chief executive Roger Draper stuck to his guns and proceeded to take a punt on "a young British coach full of energy and passion, who's already proved he's a quick learner, and has the respect of the players".
Draper's come in for some serious flak during his time at the helm of British tennis, and rightly so. But, in this instance, a gamble on Smith looks to have been a masterstroke.
With confidence at an all-time low after being on the verge of demotion to Europe/Africa Zone Group III - the lowest rung of the Davis Cup - victories over Tunisia, Luxembourg and Hungary may not sound like much but, when looked at in context, it's easy to appreciate their importance. Their self-belief restored, Britain presented a different prospect and, without the resting Andy Murray, they now had the chance to take an even bigger stride back up the Davis Cup ladder.
Without world No. 4 Murray, GB faced a tough examination in their Europe/Africa Group I tie against a Slovakia team that boasted higher ranked players in all four of the singles rubbers. To emphasise the task facing Smith's troops, Slovakia had two singles players inside the top 150; we had none.
Britain are moving in the right direction under Leon Smith
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After a nervy opening day ended 1-1, Britain won Saturday's doubles rubber to take a 2-1 lead into the final day of the tie. Needing to win only one of Sunday's singles rubbers to triumph, Britain were on the brink - or they were, until James Ward lost 6-7 1-6 3-6 to Lukas Lacko.
With Murray unable to save them, it was left up to world No. 276 Dan Evans to prove the saviour. It may have taken five gruelling sets, but he delivered the goods when it mattered to earn a play-off for a place in the elite 16-nation World Group.
To gloss over Evans' achievement without acknowledging his past struggles would be churlish. The 21-year-old from Birmingham had lost on the two previous occasions when the deciding rubber was needed to decide the tie - against Poland and Lithuania, and he has never even tasted success in a match on the ATP Tour.
Following his 6-1 6-1 4-6 3-6 6-3 victory over Martin Klizan - a man ranked some 156 places above the Solihull-born player - at Glasgow's Braehead Arena, Evans said: "It was a fifth set before I knew it. Leon told me to keep doing what I had been doing and be a bit more aggressive. I got the break and held on."
Evans, who briefly had his funding withdrawn in 2008 after a night on the tiles prior to a boys' singles match at Wimbledon, showed to everybody what can happen when positivity is being fed from all angles.
After booking Britain a second-round tie at home to Belgium in April, Evans - the British No. 5, added: "I was enjoying it because it was a good match. Both players were playing good tennis and there's nothing better when everybody in the building, bar a few, is behind you.
"I'm really pleased with how the whole week went. I've never been on a team that's been as loud as that just behind the court and that helped a lot. Davis Cup's different, everybody unites together in situations like that."
A Brit loving the Davis Cup? Strange, but true.
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