Julien Benneteau: Ready to Break the 87 Years Old Curse
France will be hosting Spain for the Davis Cup’s quarter-finals in Clermont-Ferrand, a southern central city close to Lyon. The French team was struck by good luck when Rafael Nadal announced his withdrawal from the Spanish team due to his knee injury. The news was well received by the French, who also had their key players Jo-Wilfried Tsonga opting out from the tournament. Tsonga must also treat a knee injury, and has withdrawn from all competitions until the US Open this August.
The French won’t have it easy, however, as they will face the nation with the most numerous players in the top 100 worldwide. As such, they may not have needed Rafael Nadal’s participation to secure their victory in the quarter-finals. Spain has won the Davis Cup for the two last years without the Spanish star, and are counting to repeat the experience this year. The Davis Cup Spain team now includes David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, Feliciano Lopez, and Fernando Verdasco.
The world No. 9 Verdasco has shown signs of a twisted ankle when he began practising for the confrontation, which could have been a bonus for the French. The Spaniard addressed the issue in interview: “I hope to be perfect for the weekend. I had some problems but I am okay.”
The rest of the Spanish team was also interviewed, and Lopez has shown some team spirit when asked about their expectations for the match: “The captain said all of us have to be ready because you never know what is going to happen in Davis Cup.”
Indeed, no one truly knows what to expect for the upcoming match. This weekend’s confrontation will be a first for France, which has never met Spain indoors on a hard court. Its surface signifies a quick-paced match, which slightly advantages the French. “I think these players are used to playing on all surfaces and having great results,” said the Spanish captain Albert Costa. “They [the French] put in a court they want, it is not our best condition, we would rather play on clay, but I think we’ll have good chances.”
The French team is ready for the challenge; they have replaced Tsonga with the second-highest ranked French tennis player Gael Monfils, and added Michael Llodra, and Gilles Simon on their side. They also have Julien Benneteau, a skilled tennis player who helped to propel France to the quarter-finals.
The Frenchman Benneteau has reached his best singles ranking in October 2009, being ATP World No. 32. He won the boys 16s singles title at the 1996 Orange Bowl, and reached the quarter-finals at French Open of the same year. He caused an upset when he defeated the Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis at the event. He was then defeated 6–2, 6–2, 6–3, by Croatian Ivan Ljubičić, who will be playing against Serbia this weekend for the Davis Cup quarter-finals as well.
The end of his 2008 season held a personal record for the Frenchman, who was part of the Top 50 for a second time in the last three years. He reached two ATP finals that year: one in Casablanca, and the other in Lyon. He unfortunately lost both; the first one to his now Davis Cup partner Gilles Simon, and the second one to Robin Söderling—Nadal’s most strenuous rival of late.
His best performance was in November 2009 at the Paris Masters, when he surprised everyone with his victory over now World No. 3 Roger Federer 3–6, 7–6(4), 6–4 in the second round, acclaimed by his home audience.
It was 87 years ago when France had last prevailed against Spain—this weekend might be their chance to set the record straight.
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