DAVIS CUP 2014: Semi-final

12-14 September 2014
FRANCE-CZECH REPUBLIC


Roland Garros, Paris
France: Tsonga, Gasquet, Monfils, Benneteau
Czech Republic: Berdych, Rosol, Stepenek, Vesely

• Start times: 
  Day 1: 1030 hrs (0830 hrs GMT)
  Day 2: 1400 hrs (1200 hrs GMT)
  Day 3: 1030 hrs (0830 hrs GMT)
  Surface: Clay (Red Clay), Outdoor
  
• Ball: Babolat French Open
  

SWITZERLAND-ITALY


Palexpo, Geneva, Switzerland
Switzerland:Federer, Wawrinka, Chiudinelli, Lammer
Italy: Fognini, Seppi, Lorenzi, Bolleli

• Start times: 
  Day 1: 1300 hrs (1100 hrs GMT)
  Day 2: 1300 hrs (1100 hrs GMT)
  Day 3: 1200 hrs (1000 hrs GMT)
  Surface: Hard (Rebound Ace), Indoor
  
• Ball: Wilson Australian Open
  

Interesting choice from Clement to have Benneteau over Simon.
I can only guess because of the doubles match, which could provide to be key.

Really look forward to this Davis Cup weekend, should be at least a 100 times better than Winston-Salem final we had on Monday

Winston-Salem?  


Yes the US open final was somewhat downer but the lead up to the final especially from 4th rnd onwards were very interesting. From Cilic's side it was near perfect play, Nishkori didn't have much answer to the onslaught.


I just love Davis Cup atmosphere, its electrifying.

Czech coach is solving who to nominate as the second player for single matches, Step or Rosol. It really seems to be real to see 35 yo Step playing all three days. If he does then Fed will stay on the circuit at least  till his 38 yo.

I think France is too strong at the moment, Monfils and Tsonga play very well on clay.
Gasquet is probably still injured. I am curious to know who will play doubles for France.
I'd probably choose Rosol over Step, but it would be a big risk as he is the all or nothing type of player.

Italy Switzerland should be good, even better if they were playing on clay.
Fognini is always great in Davis Cup and Bollelli has been playing in excellent form recently, again his form got kicked off after Italy's DC win over Britain in the previous round.
I love how Davis Cup gives wings to these "lesser" players.
Lajovic would have probably been struggling in challengers had he not had his DC final experience last year, and look at him now, number one on Serbian team, playing bravely against Nadal on Chatrier...

Davis Cup is very underrated these days, but I love it!

noleisthebest wrote:I think France is too strong at the moment, Monfils and Tsonga play very well on clay.
Gasquet is probably still injured. I am curious to know who will play doubles for France.
I'd probably choose Rosol over Step, but it would be a big risk as he is the all or nothing type of player.

Italy Switzerland should be good, even better if they were playing on clay.
Fognini is always great in Davis Cup and Bollelli has been playing in excellent form recently, again his form got kicked off after Italy's DC win over Britain in the previous round.
I love how Davis Cup gives wings to these "lesser" players.
Lajovic would have probably been struggling in challengers had he not had his DC final experience last year, and look at him now, number one on Serbian team, playing bravely against Nadal on Chatrier...

Davis Cup is very underrated these days, but I love it!

France is a strong favorite in that semi. I hope that our Czech coach will be wise and choose Rosol for Friday singles. Step must play the double with Berd on Saturday and then Step could play on Sunday whether he feels ok. On the other hand to see a match between Monf and Step would be funny.

On Friday Berdych with Gasquet and Rosol with Tsonga, so Step can relax for the double. A good decision.

I am surprised with Clement playing Gasquet instead of Monfils.

Team Captain decisions have cost France in 2010 final, but I'm not complaining!

noleisthebest wrote:I am surprised with Clement playing Gasquet instead of Monfils.

Team Captain decisions have cost France in 2010 final, but I'm not complaining!

I can't get it why Clement nominated Gasquet. He has actually poor form. Monf and Simon are playing better currently imo.

If Berd wins with Gasq and Berd with Step win the double, then I am looking forwad to watching Step with Gasq in the fifth match.
This nomination and schedule look good for Czechs.

Good that Fed is playing the first rubber. Finally some sense prevails in the swiss camp. Fed is their best bet and must give him chance to get the Swiss 1-0 up. Stan will be much relieved knowing the 1-0 scoreline and can play freely in the 2nd match.

I think player 1 has to be better ranked than player 2 and until recently, Fed was behind Stan in the rankings, but I'm not sure about it.
It's their match to lose. Obviously, Fed must have had his say about the surface, as I remember he was livid with Switzerland choosing clay when they lost to USA on home soil last year.

I also love it's still best of 5 sets, as men's tennis should be.

Some interesting trivia about DC trophy:

"In 1900, American Dwight Davis commissioned the trophy from Shreve, Crump & Low Co. of Boston, Mass., which assigned the task to the William B. Durgin Company in Concord, N.H.
Rowland Rhodes, an English-born designer, crafted the bowl from 217 ounces of silver – 13-inch-tall cup, 18-inch diameter bowl, top edge carved with primroses and acanthus leaves.
Cost in 1900: about $1,000; cost to reproduce today: $200,000 (cup only); cup and plinths about $600,000.
The Evolution of the Cup

Names of the players from both the winner and runner-up teams are engraved on the trophy – the never-ending need for space has led to the addition of accompanying silver tablets on circular bases.
The third and most recent plinth (the largest) was added in 2002, increasing the height of the trophy to 3’7” and weight to 231 lbs.
The Davis Cup has been presented 95 times since it was first contested in 1900.
World’s only major sporting cup to have lasted a full century.
Considered the oldest, most prestigious and most cherished of all the trophies in tennis.
Globetrotting with the Davis Cup Trophy
After Australasia defeated the U.S. in the 1908 final, the Davis Cup trophy moved to Australian tennis star Norman Brookes’ home in Melbourne. It remained on a sideboard in his elegant dining room until his wife, Mabel, felt the Cup dominated their other decorative ornaments and it was sent to a Melbourne bank vault.
After Britain defeated France in the 1933 Davis Cup Final at Roland Garros, Henri Cochet and Fred Perry brought the trophy to various night clubs in Paris in celebration.
The Davis Cup spent both World Wars in a bank vault in New York.
The Cup is now in the care of the International Tennis Federation and travels to the Davis Cup Final each year.
A Trophy by Any Other Name

Officially titled the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy but has long been known simply as the Davis Cup.
Dwight Davis’ friends lightheartedly referred to the trophy as “Dwight’s pot.” ".

Fed looks happy in the practice picts and seems to be working hard. A good way to get over the US Open loss.

btw- anyone seen Amrits posting on the old 606 about his pilgrimage to see Nadal practice in spain?  opens by saying his favourite player is "probably" Nadal....smh...

That's really funny!
Amri didn't have to go all the way to Spain for that.
I saw Nadal practise in Wimbledon this year (just happened to walk past that area) in fact, the women watching him behind the mesh fence were more interesting than him. I felt sorry for Rafito...most of them were too old even for Toni!

noleisthebest wrote:I think France is too strong at the moment, Monfils and Tsonga play very well on clay.
Gasquet is probably still injured. I am curious to know who will play doubles for France.
I'd probably choose Rosol over Step, but it would be a big risk as he is the all or nothing type of player.

Italy Switzerland should be good, even better if they were playing on clay.
Fognini is always great in Davis Cup and Bollelli has been playing in excellent form recently, again his form got kicked off after Italy's DC win over Britain in the previous round.
I love how Davis Cup gives wings to these "lesser" players.
Lajovic would have probably been struggling in challengers had he not had his DC final experience last year, and look at him now, number one on Serbian team, playing bravely against Nadal on Chatrier...

Davis Cup is very underrated these days, but I love it!

I beg to disagree. I think choosing outdoor clay wasn't their best choice as Berdych is not too bad on it and it's Rosol's best surface. On a good day he can beat any of the French guys on that surface. I think the Czech Republic will get in it's third consecutive final.

Indoor hard is an excellent choice from Switzerland. It would also have been a good choice for France as Tsonga, Monfils and Benneteau are really good on it. Only Stepanek could have been tough in singles for some of them (and maybe Berdych, but he is as tough for them on any surface, I still think he is better on slower ones though), but maybe not on best of five, but who knows as Stepanek plays his best in Davis Cup.

I'm glad France chose clay and especially Roland Garros.
It's pure style.

For once, we are not going to see any sweaty grinding on those iconic courts.
Clay is a wonderful, creative surface.

And the venue may just arouse the pride and patriotism in the French team.

I look forward to it!

noleisthebest wrote:I think player 1 has to be better ranked than player 2 and until recently, Fed was behind Stan in the rankings, but I'm not sure about it.
It's their match to lose. Obviously, Fed must have had his say about the surface, as I remember he was livid with Switzerland choosing clay when they lost to USA on home soil last year.

I also love it's still best of 5 sets, as men's tennis should be.

I don't this is true. Fed was sure ranked higher than Stan before 2014 , but against USA in the QF Stan played the first Rubber and Fed the second against Isner ( which Fed lost in 4 sets on clay ).

Wow!
France 2:0, and in style!
"'This is one of my best wins ever,'' said Gasquet, who kneeled on the court after match point. ''The atmosphere was great, this is the Davis Cup, at Roland Garros, and I beat a top player.''

I know everyone wants Fed to win DC, but I'll be cheering for France all the way. This generation of players deserve it.
ALLEZ!

Serbia also 2:0 against India in play-offs. And that's with Serbia's young team: Lajovic and Krajinovic.

Tipsarevic not in good health, just had another surgery on bis heel, as the benign tumour reappeared after the first surgery.

Fed won his match against Bolleli 6:4 6:4 7:5.

...and I didn't see any of it!

Strange comment from Berdych, something clearly not right with him:

"My body is not ready for this. I needed more time to be fit. I need more time to be better prepared,'' said Berdych, who reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals last week. ''But this tie is not over and I will keep fighting to be helpful for the team.''

And this may explain why Clement chose Gasquet:

''I quickly found out this week that I was going to play the opening game because Gael was tired. And I could not have dreamt of a better start.''

noleisthebest wrote:Strange comment from Berdych, something clearly not right with him:

"My body is not ready for this. I needed more time to be fit. I need more time to be better prepared,'' said Berdych, who reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals last week. ''But this tie is not over and I will keep fighting to be helpful for the team.''

And this may explain why Clement chose Gasquet:

''I quickly found out this week that I was going to play the opening game because Gael was tired. And I could not have dreamt of a better start.''

Says the man who told off Federer for finding excuses after his Wimbledon 2010 defeat!

Gasquet was playing great in that match vs. Berdych. He used great angles on his bh and his variety, Berdych couldn't beat him with his usual whacking the ball as hard as possible. Loved to see RG in the sun, the colour of clay is so beautiful. It's also the best surface to play on though I haven't tried grass.

I didn't think Gasquet was a poor choice btw, clay is one of his best surfaces (besides grass). And I thought they might have wanted to spare Monfils, should they need to play live rubbers on sunday.

Fed-Bolelli was a rather tight match as I expected after having seen Bolelli play at the USO and Wimbledon. Both were mostly solid on serve, Bolelli powerful on the FH, Fed FH still MIA.  The surface was very high-bouncing, don't know why they chose that. Fed won that match by his superior consistency. 

Wawrinka victory was never in doubt with Fognini not strong enough on serve. Most memorable moment of the match was a Fognini challenge on setpoint (2nd set) where he stopped playing a theretofore neutral point and lost the challenge of course.

So we are headed toward a Switzerland - France final it seems likely with Bercy as a venue, with France being the strong favourite for me.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Strange comment from Berdych, something clearly not right with him:

"My body is not ready for this. I needed more time to be fit. I need more time to be better prepared,'' said Berdych, who reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals last week. ''But this tie is not over and I will keep fighting to be helpful for the team.''

And this may explain why Clement chose Gasquet:

''I quickly found out this week that I was going to play the opening game because Gael was tired. And I could not have dreamt of a better start.''

Says the man who told off Federer for finding excuses after his Wimbledon 2010 defeat!

Finally I see why you don't like Berdych...but there's more to their animosity than what comes out in the press. Same with Nole.
I won't go into details, but anyone who lived in Switzerland as a foreigner will know what I mean.

I don't mind sparks coming off in press conferences. Honesty over " humbleness" any time for me!

Both doubles matches today promise lot of fun. I wish Italians played Fognini, though.

Fed/Stan-Seppi/Bolleli
Monf/Benne-Step/Vesely

In play-offs, Brazil-Spain & Holland-Croatia 1:1 after day one.

CZ got all their cards on the table, Berd playing instead of the originally selected Vesely.
Same with Italy, Fognini instead of Seppi.

Got the stream at last, should be a good match, Davis Cup doubles are so exciting!

So good to see clay, Chatrier packed, looking beautiful with all those flags.

This time last year I was waving my own flag in Arena, Belgrade

A French v Swiss final woudl be ideal for me. I want France to win....but I like the second choice too.

For me, DC is not an individual competition, so Switzerland is last on my support list in this SF. That doesn't stop me from enjoying their team's tennis, of course.

France need to be careful here and not squander the early lead, Step-Berd are a great doubles team.

I've just realised Fed is not partnering Stan in today's doubles, Chiudinelli playing instead.

Checking all scores...and Bubka playing Strakh against the Belgians.
He's done well to recover from that fall.

Yes Fed must be knackered not to be keen on playing double.

I think Monfils is the only French player that plays well and feeds on home crowd, all the others seem to choke for some reason.
Actually, Herbert and Paire love it, too.

Richie's BH looks suffocated in doubles' tennis.

Tsonga playing with lots of courage, even though he stuffed the chance to break for the set at the net, I like the attitude!

noleisthebest wrote:I think Monfils is the only French player that plays well and feeds on home crowd, all the others seem to choke for some reason.
Actually, Herbert and Paire love it, too.

I think that was true before but in a DC the atmosphere is different and it usually helps them....but certainly if they get a wrong turn, the huge support can certainly play against them.

From what I've seen, French crowd's love is not unconditional and that pressures the players when they are down in a match.

They can turn against their own players.

What a BH from Richie for 4:2 in the TB!

The crowd loves him

T, who would you have picked to play doubles today?

I am so happy current generation have embraced Davis Cup, even Cilic has sobered up from all the champagne and playing doubles for Croatia!

There is no escape from Rafael Nadal, even during this Davis Cup!
French TV showing a commercial of him and Ronaldo (the fat, Brazillian one) playing poker

Chatrier crowd having time of their life, DC atmosphere is tough to beat!

Can't wait for the WTF, tennis nation rocks!!!

France through to the final, 3:0, impressive!

Federer might regret not to have played the double now. He faces a single whihc is 3 times as much exhausting that the double.

I wonder whether Fed is running out of gas at the tail end of the season.  Sadly, it may be that Cincy tournament cost him too much energy after all.  While he did quite well this summer, it has in a sense been quite disappointing.  He really should have come away with a slam - if not two.  Both Wimbledon and USO were winnable, and he failed in both; who knows when he will have such a good opportunity again.

Hopefully he has enough energy left to win tomorrow.

FEDS WINS THE TIE!!!!

summerblues wrote:I wonder whether Fed is running out of gas at the tail end of the season.  Sadly, it may be that Cincy tournament cost him too much energy after all.  While he did quite well this summer, it has in a sense been quite disappointing.  He really should have come away with a slam - if not two.  Both Wimbledon and USO were winnable, and he failed in both; who knows when he will have such a good opportunity again.

Hopefully he has enough energy left to win tomorrow.

I'm glad you mentioned this, as it again highlights how much current level of physicality affects tennis and should not be used as a sign of declining/lack of winning.

USO is a really good example: Nole was wiped by Murray, Nishi by Nole, Fed by Monfils and Cilic had easy pickings.
That's why early rounds draw has become crucial and was fixed, as Truffin mentioned in one of his posts (so much so that Toni even "hoped" Rafa would get easy few early rounds at USO before he officially announced he wasn't going to play it).

Fed's lack of result at USO was partly because of his very long season and number of matches he played but largely due to the very physical 5 setter he had played before the SF.
Nole barely played anything before USO and look how knackered he was against Nishikori.

luvsports! wrote:FEDS WINS THE TIE!!!!

Let's hope French crowd doesn't end up cheering for him in the final

I don't care much for DC but hopefully Fed and Stan can win it.

I remember fed vs simon at the FO'13. The crowd was pretty much dead even it was amazing.
For Tsonga fed, tsonga deffo had the crowd support.
Same for Monfils.
ALLEZ LE SUISSE!

Did you watch it, LS?
Just saw this on tennis.com

"Federer celebrated with skipping jumps across the court on completing a 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (4) win against the 17th-ranked Fognini.

''It's fabulous to share in this moment,'' Federer said in an on-court interview after being hoisted on the shoulders of teammate Stan Wawrinka and captain Severin Luethi for a lap of honor round the court."

Must have looked great to see Fed hopping like a little boy and then carried on Stan's&Severin's shoulders.
You never ever experience that on tour!

brief highlights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O__5xVo85H4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMO7npVm7xE

and french czech doubles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhDW-O3HvVw