France gearing to win tenth Davis Cup title in Belgrade
The Davis Cup captain of the French side Guy Forget along with the former winner Henri Leconte reflected on Monday that French players are all ready to upset their Serbian opponents in the upcoming final in Belgrade.
The Serbian team made its way into the world group on the first occasion back in 2008 and had never previously gone beyond the opening round in the tournament’s top tier before advancing into this season’s final.
The former nine-time champion, France, on the other hand, is in the quest for its first trophy since 2001.
Forget, the French coach, while commenting on the strength of the Serbian side which is led by the world number three Novak Djokovic said, “We are not afraid of anything, we know how good Novak Djokovic and the other Serbian players
are. We also know that when you play away, the atmosphere is sometimes hard and you have to be ready. It is going to be a great match, a tough match and you know we are really looking forward to it.”
Serbia’s enthusiastic eighteen thousand fans carried the side in their 3-2 semi-final victory over the Czech Republic in Belgrade, however the French may find the overall environment less intimidating as the venue’s capacity has
been decreased to 15,000 for the title battle.
The Tennis Association of Serbia has already sold approximately 5,080 tickets on general sale whereas the rest have been distributed to a variety of sponsors, staff and volunteers, tennis clubs as well as a total of one thousand
and six hundred French fans who are also likely to make the trip.
A fixed number of seats have also been reserved for the security personnel, media people and to fix the hawk-eye system.
Leconte of France, who led his country to a Davis Cup crown back in 1991 when they defeated United States of America in the finals, reflected that he is hoping for a spectacular final between the two in-form sides in Belgrade.
“I think we will have a weekend of great tennis as Novak is playing very well and the French team have also been very well prepared in the last ten days, they are very keen to go out there and do their best to win. With the local
crowd behind Serbia, they are the favourites however that is very normal and we have to respect it as it was also very hard for Pete Sampras when we played the United States in Lyon in 1991.”
The French team made its way into the final in 2010 with a 5-0 rout of Argentina after thrashing out champions Spain by the same score. They will be missing the injured Jo-Wilfried Tsonga however he will be in Belgrade to support
his home side as his fellow players Gael Monfils and Michael Llodra meet Novak and company.
The French side already shares a history of upsetting the big guns. They won the Davis Cup final back in 2001 after surpassing the Australian side, on grass, with Nicolas Escude getting the better of then top ranked player Lleyton
Hewitt.
Hewitt, who still plays on the veterans’ circuit, while commenting on the Davis Cup final said that despite being injured, the key is still Jo Wilfried Tsonga as he will be a major backing force who will play the role of a motivator
for the French players.
The final will be held from 3rd to 5th December in Belgrade.
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