Down 2 sets to love against Monfils, this doesn’t look like a repeat of their US Open match where Federer recovered from dropping the first two sets to win in 5. They just played a sick point on a Monfils’ break point at 2-all in the 3rd set where Fed won the point by hitting a volley that caromed off the net post. But Fed missed badly on a inside-in forehand on the next break point and now Monfils is in the catbird seat.
I didn’t see the first match where Wawa beat Tsonga, but Monfils looks like he’s going to be very hard to beat in this finals’ tie. The Swiss are pinning their entire hopes on Fed and Wawa winning the three points to win. That’s because they’ve paired Chuidinelli and Lammer together in the dubs. Those two probably couldn’t beat the French 5th or 6th best doubles tandem. But what about Fed here?
He’s never lost to Monfils on clay (4-0). And yet he is being beaten badly here today. I’ve got to go back to those discussions of the GOAT. Can Fed truly be the GOAT with his Davis Cup and Nadal record?
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« Previous 1 2Mertov · November 24, 2014 at 7:07 pm
Dan, how can Simon play? You can only play the four players nominated 10 days before for the tie. If someone gets injured, you play one of the remaining three players (except the one who plays the other singles match).
Clement would have had to then nominate Simon instead of Monfils, Tsonga, or Gasquet. Plus you want him to go with ERV-Ben in doubles. So those two, Simon and one out of Tsonga, Gasquet and Monfils? Do you know how much flack Clement would have cought if he went with Tsonga and Simon, ERV and Ben, leaving Monfils and Gasquet out (plus with Tsonga getting injured on Friday)?
Again..
(1) Putting Simon in the tie and taking ERV+Ben, leaves 2 out of the following players out: Monfils, Tsonga, Gasquet,
or…
(2) You take Simon + 2 out of the three: Tsonga, Monfils, Gasquet (+Benneteau for doubles). If you leave out Gasquet, and the French lose the doubles then Clement gets his head cut off for leaving Tsonga-Gasquet combination out (which was obviously his first choice), and Simon loses to Federer (which would have been just as likely) then he gets his head cut off for leaving Gasquet out. The French do not have a higher esteem for Simon then they do for Gasquet.
Scoop, yes, definitely ask Leconte about that, I am sure he will tell you how much flack Noah caught when he announced that he would play Leconte back then 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · November 24, 2014 at 7:21 pm
It’s weird how Simon gets bypassed so often for Davis Cup. The guy is a great player, he beat Federer the first two times he ever played him. He’s beaten Rafa. Maybe the French like to make controversial unpredictable player selections, like Noah with Leconte Mertov )It’s impossible to even imagine Gasquet ever winning a huge match in a major or Davis Cup or Olympics, though he was super impressive that time he beat Roddick in five sets at Wimbledon. Would love to see Gasquet pull his Thomas Johansson/Stan Wawrinka surge out of the blue.
Mertov · November 24, 2014 at 10:56 pm
Hey Scoop,
First of all, I am a huge Simon fan (as I am of any other payer who overachieve given the limitations they have). I respect Simon far more than I will ever respect Monfils who is one of the ultimate underachievers of this generation. I find Gasquet to be underachieving too, and I always had a problem with his “I tested positive because I kissed a girl” story.
But even with all that….
I would have a hard time as a Captain to select Simon over Gasquet. Simon has one Slam quarterfinals (vs. 2 semis for Gasquet) and no better record in big tournaments than Gasquet. And with Gasquet, you always have that roll of the dice where Gasquet plays out of his mind for 2 hours, he could beat a great player, whereas Simon, at his best, still has a small chance to beat a top player due to his limited shot-making skills.
But before we even get to all that, I explained in detail above why it’s impossible for him to play, since he was not selected for the tie, and how Clement would have had to sacrifice a lot if he chose to select him 10 days ago. That is the problem with players like Monfils and Simon, if you pick them, they are for singles only. Not so for Tsonga and Gasquet. SO if you have to pick two out of three you will most likely go with two players who can play singles and doubles, plus one of the two singles players.
Andrew Miller · November 24, 2014 at 11:04 pm
Mertov’s points are strong, no denying that – this was a line-up made to cover both singles and doubles.
Gasquet is “soft” only in front of the home crowd – Gasquet’s best wins are out of town and he’s always found it most difficult to play in France, not to play for France. It wasn’t a gdawful decision, but I think it WAS an awful decision to play Tsonga hurt (and which Tsonga said he wanted to do, even knowing he was hurt).
I guess the “Monfils at singles only” option really was what they had with everyone else covering singles and doubles. Still think it was irresponsible to play Tsonga. Poor Simon will get a pass, his statement seemed to suggest to the effect that he knew why he wouldn’t be playing.
Scoop Malinowski · November 25, 2014 at 7:35 am
Suppose you have to risk it with Gasquet over Simon, it’s a logical choice as you always have the hope Gasquet will wake up from his slumber and escape his demons and fulfill his potential and play the brand of sensational lights out tennis we know he is capable of. Unfortunately Gasquet couldn’t do it again, but maybe Fed deserves a lot of credit for preventing it. I wonder if Simon ever got the big call to play a critical singles Davis Cup match and he played a dud match and so French captains don’t/can’t trust him. Maybe Simon is a Davis Cup choker. As far as Tsonga’s supposed injury – didn’t see even a hint of a hint of it. He looked great in the second set vs. Stan.
Dan Markowitz · November 25, 2014 at 4:18 pm
Merton, you’ve convinced me. And hey I’m not a big Simon fan, but my tack as the French captain especially with how poorly Richard played in the doubles would’ve been anyone but Gasquet. I would’ve given Tsonga the Gipper speech and hopefully gotten him out there or I’d have gone with Benny.
Dan Markowitz · November 25, 2014 at 4:19 pm
Sorry, I meant Mertov.
Harold · November 29, 2014 at 12:29 pm
Every tennis pundit was talking about issues with the Swiss.. The French might have had their own turmoil. Tsonga is playing in the IPTL. Played yesterday, miraculous recovery,or did he P**** out of playing big matches, doubs and against Fed?
Scoop Malinowski · November 29, 2014 at 1:08 pm
I saw that Harold, Tsonga playing IPTL also saw some of replay of Stan match and after it was over Jo walked off with Babolat bag in one hand and two racquets in other, so sign at all of any elbow injury.
Andrew Miller · November 29, 2014 at 7:58 pm
Clement’s choices not “awful” – not grounds for dismissing him as coach (look at Moya in Spain – now he wasn’t even able to convince anyone to play for the team beyond ATP #15 Rob Bautista-Agut! How’s that for a line-up – Bautista-Agut and Pablo Andjuar – no offense but this line-up doesn’t inspire confidence; not much better than last year’s Grannollers/Ramos line-up).
Assuming Tsonga sustained an elbow injury he should have been benched and saved for dubs. Throwing a Gasquet/Tsonga or Benn/Tsonga line-up at Federer/Wawrinka is a “tougher out” for Switzerland.
My prediction was way off – should have known better than to bet against two of the year’s top 5 players (and one of the world’s best all-time players still reaching records, with the other having a career year). The Federer-Wawrinka blow-up in London at the WTF wasn’t a sign of no unity or conflict heading into Davis Cup, but a sign that these guys were more than ready to beat a French team that was not only less unified but a complaint factory (from Simon’s criticizing the photo of Federer’s red clay practice on twitter to Tsonga I think criticizing the French crowd, or warnings to the French crowd not to cheer for Switzerland).
News flash: France needs to stop being afraid of its own shadow.
Harold’s totally right here. Some serious lack of courage. And Dan was right for saying that France has been soft for a long time now. Personally I thought that having two players in Monfils and Tsonga – both of who have it in them to play high-caliber tennis in Davis Cup – would make the difference. Nope – they were CRUSHED under the weight of expectations.
Maybe Tsonga was injured but how does a player get a crowd into a match if he fears how they will cheer? That’s some paranoia for you. I can’t stand it when players criticize the crowd – if you’re not winning them over, look in the mirror to see who’s at fault. Even Harrison was able to silence (an admittedly small but vocal) challenger crowd with his play this year. France could have done the same, especially at home. I’ve never seen the French not cheer for a French player (I’m sure it happens but it just doesn’t sound right). And if they really believed they had this problem, why not just taken the hit on the financial side and under-price tickets to get more boisterous fans, who would fill the rafters with their vocal support for team France?
As one French commenter said: “Les Suisses étaient bien meilleurs, plus solides, plus sérieux”
I don’t know French but this translation is straightforward.
“The Swiss were much better, more solid, more serious”. They deserved to win and I think they won the cup before they landed in France. This team wasn’t bad because of Clement. They didn’t play like they wanted to win the cup – they played like they wanted the cup given to them.
Wawrinka basically said the same thing – apparently France didn’t appreciate it.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/11/stan-wawrinka-france-davis-cup-bathroom-tsonga-monfils-beef
Harold · November 30, 2014 at 8:52 am
I want to know if the players lose their right to complain that the season is too long, now that they have all gone money grabbing in India, for this exo league b***s***.
The top players, who end up playing the most matches by going deep into tournaments, are all there. No more whining now.
Scoop Malinowski · November 30, 2014 at 10:18 am
actually we don’t hear too many complaints from the players lately about the season being too long. I enjoyed the CTL and how competitive it was, also the IPTL looks high quality too. Fun format. Great tennis. Hope both leagues succeed and by the looks of things they probably will. Andy Murray says he’s already begun training for 2015. Most players probably have. pro tennis players never really stop training more than a week or two tops.
Andrew Miller · November 30, 2014 at 12:06 pm
Complaints about season length seem like the wrong complaints. This year’s injuries even got me worried – so many, so often. I think maybe it’s the court speed, technology – but no way to get the technology genie back in the bottle. We hear a lot about how today’s training is superior to before but if so why so many more injuries at the highest levels, to the players with the best training? And if so, why is it that the older players for the most part dominate the top 100 (with the youngest players so much older than they had been, Coric the exception?).
I have no answers here. I’d guess tournaments have to make sure they have trainers, monitor the on-court temperature, play only when better conditions prevail. Otherwise the “overplaying” sounds pretty hollow.
Maybe it is that the top players practice too much. Hingis used to prepare through doubles. Apparently few players see any merit here.