2014 Davis Cup Final: France-Switzerland

truffin1 wrote:
You guys were right! This was what the Swiss had to do and it paid off!

I told you they needed to play Fed, I knew his injuries wouldn't affect him as much in doubles as it does in singles.

However I didn't expect it to be Swiss winning in 3 sets. France actually had their chances, but Gasquet in particular crumbled in the pressure moments. Stan was the strongest member of the Swiss pair (not surprising given Fed was injured), but the Swiss played better in the crucial moments.

Will require a huge effort from Tsonga and Monfils tomorrow to turn this around.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:

Kim Jong-Un wrote:That's not the case on v2, Tenez change the forum settings so it's London timezone when logged out.

Just need....not sure why the TZ changed in the first place!

Still having trouble with auto spell-check?

Isn't that terrible? Nope. Just the first signs of Elzheimer!

noleisthebest wrote:Tenez is probably scrunched behind the sofa in fetal position hating himself for liking Fed so much
It's impossible to resist him. The guy is sublime.

That's how I feel when Nole plays him.

yes it is so bizarre. I have just returned from a game of tennis with french compatriots and never did I dare say I had mixed feelings about it as they were so 100% for France. I must say this would only happen because of Fed. I relate more to him than other players. But still I want France to win!






Do I, really?

Kim Jong-Un wrote:I told you they needed to play Fed, I knew his injuries wouldn't affect him as much in doubles as it does in singles.

However I didn't expect it to be Swiss winning in 3 sets. France actually had their chances, but Gasquet in particular crumbled in the pressure moments. Stan was the strongest member of the Swiss pair (not surprising given Fed was injured), but the Swiss played better in the crucial moments.

Will require a huge effort from Tsonga and Monfils tomorrow to turn this around.

But you said they would lose the double whereas I really fancied their chance.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Tenez is probably scrunched behind the sofa in fetal position hating himself for liking Fed so much
It's impossible to resist him. The guy is sublime.

That's how I feel when Nole plays him.

yes it is so bizarre. I have just returned from a game of tennis with french compatriots and never did I dare say I had mixed feelings about it as they were so 100% for France. I must say this would only happen because of Fed. I relate more to him than other players . But still I want France to win!






Do I, really?

Me, too! Esp the SBH.
He inspires me no end.

These days, I prefer to watch him play live than go to a classical concert + theatre play put together.

Maybe it's better you didn't watch.
There was only one passage of decent play from Benne/Gasquet.

I am sad to say, but Richie choked, and they just never functioned as a pair.
Benne started very tight but managed to loosen up fired by the crowd, Gasquet started OK and then disappeared.
I felt a bit for him as he was missing good first serves by tiny outs and we all know tennis is a game of millimetres...
Such a shame Llodra was injured.

Fed was marvellous, I haven't seen him so fired up and hungry for a loooong, loooong time.
It's just amazing to see him look so good as a double player, he is so natural on a tennis court, so smooth and coordinated, you think that's how everyone should be, and then you see other players around that look like rough DIY jobs...

Fed looked quite supple today, this match may have given him the warm-up he needed.
Tomorrow, though is another day...
Tsonga apparently refused to play doubles, not confirmed whether it was because of injury.
I saw only a tiny bit of his match against Stan - if he let Stan steamroll him, what chances does he have against Fed who will dearly love to win DC with his own hands by winning his match tomorrow.

That would be beautiful to see, but equally moving it would be to see Monf do the same for France in the 5th rubber. They have such a wonderful group of players that never won anything big, and this would be a nice thing for them to crown their careers with. Remember poor Benne and his 10 losses in ATP finals!!! Remember Richie and his 5 setters against Murray in Wimbledon and Stan in RG...Remember Tsonga glorious AO 2008 win over Nadal and loss in the final...Remember dark places Monf went to during his injury and came back from... One for all - all for one!

I don't now why Simon never played Stan. Tsonga can be quite volatile.

Coooo, just re-read that last paragraph, I sound like French DC team captain

Provided it's Tsonga-Fed first to play tomorrow, what are Tsonga's chances?
40/60?

Tenez wrote:

Kim Jong-Un wrote:I told you they needed to play Fed, I knew his injuries wouldn't affect him as much in doubles as it does in singles.

However I didn't expect it to be Swiss winning in 3 sets. France actually had their chances, but Gasquet in particular crumbled in the pressure moments. Stan was the strongest member of the Swiss pair (not surprising given Fed was injured), but the Swiss played better in the crucial moments.

Will require a huge effort from Tsonga and Monfils tomorrow to turn this around.

But you said they would lose the double whereas I really fancied their chance.

Yes I thought the French would win in a tight match, but in the big moments it was Swiss who upped their game everytime. Gasquet was a lot worse than I thought he would be.

Fedrinka.  

It is Federer v ?. Will he get to fire the trophy winning shot? 

Hi LF,
long time no see!
How's life over the pond?
Did you enjoy Fed's 2014?
Any highlights for you this tennis year?

noleisthebest wrote:Hi LF,
long time no see!
How's life over the pond?
Did you enjoy Fed's 2014?
Any highlights for you this tennis year?

Hello NITB. 

I read, but do not post much, so 99.99% read, 0.01% write. T would understand the Oraclese. 

Life is good as long there is a pond to drop by and relax once in a while, no matter which bank/side of the pond one is on.

Happy to see the Old Man do well in 2014 (compared to 2013). The W final and the USO SF loss was the highlight vis-a-vis Federer. 

I am glad to see younger players pushing the old.

The non-Tennis highlight was Djokovic becoming a father.

Interesting write-up on the match from P. Bodo (he is a bit of a Davis Cup fan and defender).
Particularly the paragraph about Luthi hiring the USA doubles team coach to prepare the Swiss tea, for today's match:

"Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka won the doubles point, giving Switzerland two chances to win the Davis Cup on Sunday. (AP Photos)
Credit Swiss Davis Cup Severin Luthi with making a great decision sometime Friday night or this morning. After consulting with his players, Luthi decided to yank the scheduled doubles team Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lammer in favor of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. The net result: A decisive, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 win for Switzerland—and a 2-1 points lead in the best-of-five-point Davis Cup final.

Chiudinelli and Lammer are low-ranked journeymen in both singles and doubles. With the tie knotted at 1-all, Luthi could not afford to stand by and watch a ritual slaughter, inflicted by 2014 French Open doubles champion Julien Benneteau and the mercurial Richard Gasquet.

In addition to that obvious danger, there was another potent one in play. Imagine the momentum and confidence the French squad, and the bulk of the 27,000+ fans who have been jamming into the Stade Pierre Mauroy, would carry into the final day of play. Luthi clearly had to call upon Wawrinka and Federer, sore back and all—which is why that obvious move isn’t the great decision I’m referring to.

Luthi’s stroke of genius was his bold decision to hire U.S. doubles coach David Macpherson to give coaching advice to the Swiss doubles players. Clearly, Luthi was thinking ahead to all the possible scenarios for this three-day tie last week in London when he brought Macpherson on board. For no matter how you crunched the scenarios, there was only one in which the doubles would not loom as a critical point for Switzerland: If the Swiss led 2-0 at the end of day one. And even then, wouldn’t it be wise in that situation to go for the jugular?

Bringing in Macpherson was also a selfless move by a coach who set aside whatever ego he has in the interest of doing the best thing for his team. I wouldn’t nominate him for sainthood on that count; this is the kind of thing any captain worth the title is supposed to do. What I do nominate him for is a MacArthur Genius Grant, because, well, how often have you heard of a captain bringing in the coach of a rival team? Macpherson’s day job is that of coach to the best doubles team of all time, U.S. Davis Cup stalwarts Bob and Mike Bryan.

But save some credit to the Swiss players, too. It would have been very easy for a player of Federer’s status to pooh-pooh as alarmist, or even redundant, the idea of bringing in a private doubles coach. Not only is Federer the all-time singles Grand Slam champion, but he and Wawrinka were also the gold-medal winning doubles squad at the 2008 Olympics.

“Coach?” Federer might have exclaimed. “We don’t need no stinkin’ doubles coach!”

Apparently, Macpherson and the doubles players (presumably all four men on the Swiss side) got together and held strategy sessions. They also watched video tape. I admit it was hard, watching the match today, to see exactly what Macpherson brought to the table. What was obvious, though, is that the Swiss were highly synchronized—insert favorite quip about Swiss timekeeping devices here—and brutally efficient, far more than one might have expected from a team that last played together in April against Kazakhstan.

Luthi must have had sharp and painful memories of that tie. Switzerland, also deadlocked after Day 1 in that tie, lost the doubles point to the obscure tandem of Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov. The Swiss singles players managed to step up and secure the tie by winning the final two singles matches, but the experience must have convinced Luthi that, in a game chock full of experienced doubles players and specialists, having won a gold medal six years ago means little.

Today, it was the French who looked out of sync. Benneteau might be a doubles Grand Slam champion (he partnered with Edouard Roger-Vasselin in winning Roland Garros), but he hadn’t played a match with Gasquet all year. Furthermore, Gasquet was clearly the weak link on the French team. He’s played poorly all fall, and before that he was dealing with injury. Gasquet has played some doubles this year, almost exclusively with French No. 1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. In fact, the pair logged a critical doubles win in the World Group semifinals over the defending champion Czech Republic’s savvy, veteran team of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek.

That raises the obvious question: what was French captain Arnaud Clement thinking? If he held Tsonga out of the doubles because he didn’t consider the point critical, he probably made a huge mistake. His most sensible argument is that he wanted to keep Tsonga fresh for his now do-or-die fourth rubber with Federer. We won’t be judge the wisdom of that decision until Sunday afternoon, but there’s also something to be said in a situation like this for playing the best guy or team you have and worry about the rest later—the way the Luthi did.

What we do know for sure is that the Swiss played terrific doubles today. Over the course of the match, Federer and Wawrinka broke down the physical and mental defenses of the French. Gasquet looked increasingly unsure of himself as the match went on. The Swiss exploited him to the max, even though it was Benneteau who offered up the key breaks in the first and third sets.

"We came on court to win this point,” Wawrinka declared afterward. “We played aggressive, we knew what we had to do. We did a good job. I'm content with this win.”

In the big picture, the Swiss really had two objectives in this doubles: To win, and perhaps equally important, to win quickly. A knock-down, drag-out five setter—even in the faster-paced doubles—surely would have left the Swiss stars somewhat leg-weary for Sunday, and we won’t even get into how it might have affected Federer’s back. But Federer and Wawrinka held their feet the necks of the French; the match was over in just two hours and 12 minutes.

"The coaches did a wonderful job of preparing us for this match,” Federer said. “Now the objective is to rest and recover after winning this point today."

That, and perhaps buying a beer for Luthi—and Macpherson.

laverfan wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Hi LF,
long time no see!
How's life over the pond?
Did you enjoy Fed's 2014?
Any highlights for you this tennis year?

Hello NITB. 

I read, but do not post much, so 99.99% read, 0.01% write. T would understand the Oraclese. 

Life is good as long there is a pond to drop by and relax once in a while, no matter which bank/side of the pond one is on.

Happy to see the Old Man do well in 2014 (compared to 2013). The W final and the USO SF loss was the highlight vis-a-vis Federer. 

I am glad to see younger players pushing the old.

The non-Tennis highlight was Djokovic becoming a father.

What would you read if everyone did 0.01 % write?
I am still full of beans happy to talk & read 110%

noleisthebest wrote:

laverfan wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Hi LF,
long time no see!
How's life over the pond?
Did you enjoy Fed's 2014?
Any highlights for you this tennis year?

Hello NITB. 

I read, but do not post much, so 99.99% read, 0.01% write. T would understand the Oraclese. 

Life is good as long there is a pond to drop by and relax once in a while, no matter which bank/side of the pond one is on.

Happy to see the Old Man do well in 2014 (compared to 2013). The W final and the USO SF loss was the highlight vis-a-vis Federer. 

I am glad to see younger players pushing the old.

The non-Tennis highlight was Djokovic becoming a father.

What would you read if everyone did 0.01 % write?
I am still full of beans happy to talk & read 110%

I am happy to read others' 110% on OTF. 

noleisthebest wrote:
Me, too! Esp the SBH.
He inspires me no end.

These days, I prefer to watch him play live than go to a classical concert + theatre play put together.

yes but you are not French. Knowing you I am sure you would be 200% behind Serbia in a similar situation. And you would be right.

Surprisingly.....It's Gasquet v Federer. Not a bad idea actually. Shoudl be a great match.....and I am 100% behind Gasquet!

It's a great tennis from both.

What a point!!!!! Amazing

The SBHB rallies are incredible

just tuned in...shame Richie can't compete with his FH.

....but his BH is 1st class!

Against Fed, Richie knows he can play his game without worrying about fitness too much.

Happy he survived this game!
Born in the wrong era, such a shame...

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:
Me, too! Esp the SBH.
He inspires me no end.

These days, I prefer to watch him play live than go to a classical concert + theatre play put together.

yes but you are not French. Knowing you I am sure you would be 200% behind Serbia in a similar situation. And you would be right.

I know I am not French but I love it enough to want to live and die in it as soon as I can.
I lived in Switzerand as well, which makes it even easier to cheer for France.

Why is Tsonga not playing?

Gasquet must change his FH grip NOOOOOOOW!!!!!

noleisthebest wrote:Why is Tsonga not playing?

Injured I believe.

I fancy Gasquet winning his first 5 setter being 2 sets down....since his Wimby 1/4F v Roddick.

They shoudl have played Simon.....Over 5 sets with a bad back....simon any time.

Clement is really stupid. He is arguing about everything.

Yes, very surprised Simon is not playing, he is probably injured, as well.
Richie will need a bit of luck to win this set, which should give him enough belief and momentum to go for the 4th.
After that...anything is possible!

This is where crowd becomes crucial for Gasquet, they've got to carry him in his service games like mad now.
Unconditionally.

Fed's back is starting to play up again. Not moving and more importantly smashing as well.

Yes, I noticed that, too. Beginning to look nervous.

Massive point at 30:30 for Richie.

That idiot shouting "out" in the crucial part of that long rally distracting Gasquet....

noleisthebest wrote:That idiot shouting "out" in the crucial part of that long rally distracting Gasquet....

Will probably be the point that swung the match...

If Switzerland win this DC, they should send Nole a lifelong supply of finest cheese and chocolate.
Serbia were hosting Switzerland in round one back in January, and Fed jumped in last minute as soon as Nole announced he wasn't playing.
Had to be said

Richie's BH is the only BH that comes close to Fed's.

noleisthebest wrote:Richie's BH is the only BH that comes close to Fed's.

Stan ?

Too good from Roger, Gasquet nowhere near good enough

Congratulations to SUI and Fedrinka on a Maiden DC. 

A fantastic career for the Old Man, so far. 

Luthi looks like such a killjoy...having on-court interview without even a smile, c'mon maaan!

My pc crashed right on MP! so annoyed.

Well disappointed...but still happy for Fed.

Yes, it was beautiful Roger, beautiful tennis...what a heart-breaker...

French captain messes the historic opportunity...again!

Tenez wrote:My pc crashed right on MP! so annoyed.

Well disappointed...but still happy for Fed.

My trusty old IMac delivered!
Didn't crash even when Nole was two match points down in USO 2011

Anyway, i'll see it on youtube eventually.

NITB..I can't stand macs anymore. Used to be a big fan but their marketing is evil.

I don't know anything about their marketing, just like the simplicity, aesthetics and ease of use of their few products I have.

As for evil marketing, I remember being stoned on v2 trying to raise the boycott of TESCO once over their switch of charity they supported.

You commented on it, as well.

In the end, it was a small victory for the campaign as TESCO did back-paddle in the end.
One of those rare occasions when power to the people worked in this day and age.

noleisthebest wrote:
In the end, it was a small victory for the campaign as TESCO did back-paddle in the end.
One of those rare occasions when power to the people worked in this day and age.

Did they ?
As far as I can remember TESCO didn't drop their sponsorship of the parade.

I must be dreaming! Hooray!! From the start of the year when I looked at the draw, it was Switzerland's to lose.
What a great year for tennis this has been, and what an amazing year for Stan. Starting the year with the Australian Open, ending the year with Davis Cup.

However, I've said it before and I'll say it again, Federer's career reads like a plot from a film. Just this past week: 
A legend gets injured playing his team mate, has to withdraw from a final, being so disappointed as it was one of the main tournaments of the year. It doesn't look good for the Davis Cup, a tournament he's been carrying on his shoulders all year, a tournament neither he nor his country have ever won. His friend and team mate has to carry the weight this time around. The protagonist loses quite easily, all is surely lost for the title now. However, a change of plan from the team, and a stroke of genius from the Captain, and they win the doubles. Can they win it after all? 4th rubber, one last test, possibly the final match of the year, will the back hold? He plays pure, sublime tennis, showing when he plays his best, he is the best. There's drama from the opposition. He does it! Tears flow, the whole team erupts and celebrate. The scene and music fades away, and words appear on the screen:

"Roger Federer went on to win X titles, and a total of X Grand Slam titles.
He is regarded by most as the greatest tennis player to have ever played the sport."

You could do the same with a lot of other parts of his career. 2009 springs to mind after the 2008 Wimbledon loss. Or even when he was going for Wimbledon 2012. Back to no. 1, Wimbledon no. 7, slam no. 17.

That's my sentimental post for the day.