Who would you pick for the French Davis Cup team?

Gasquet and Tsonga managed the home pressure and the Czechs to get France to the Davis Cup final, but seem injured or out of form since.

Monfils is also injured but Simon and Benneteau seem to be on good form in Asia.

Who would you pick to face the Swiss in the final?

Tsonga is recovering from a small injury on his right arm and should be back before the paris master. I still think he will play the singles. Simon should be picked ahead of Gasquet on current form but reckon Gasquet will still be favoured on the back of his good display during the semi-finals.

In terms of singles players, Simon is currently in the best form but I can recall him playing badly for them before when given the nod. If fit, I think they will therefore stick with Tsonga and Gasquet.

Tsonga/Gasquet also teamed up for the doubles last round, so I would probably have Simon and Benneteau as the other two players.

I think Gasquet will be picked but I can only see him maybe getting a win off Stan, deffo not feds imo. Simon could be more likely to beat both.

dont recall simon and benneteau being paired together. Benneteau could well play with Tsonga or Gasquet though.
somehow the result of this game will heavily depends on Wawrinka form whic has been erratic (at best) recently.

Tsonga and Simon. I think they have to go with form, and Simons found a bit. I still think they can pick Julienne for the doubles. Is it being played in France? If soo I wonder how much le French crowd might have a say

From Davis Cup web site

Date: 21 Nov - 23 Nov 2014
Venue: Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille, France

Start times:
Day 1: 1400 hrs (1300 hrs GMT)
Day 2: 1530 hrs (1430 hrs GMT)
Day 3: 1300 hrs (1200 hrs GMT)

Surface: Clay (Red Clay), Indoor

Ball: Babolat French Open

http://www.daviscup.com/en/draws-results/tie/details.aspx?tieId=100021090

The choice should be made based on the surface. Simon is perhaps a worse choice ( W/L is 2/5 - http://www.daviscup.com/en/players/player/profile.aspx?playerid=30023245 ) instead of Gasquet ( W/L is 6/4 -  http://www.daviscup.com/en/players/player/profile.aspx?playerid=30022225)

Federer v Simon on Clay is 2-0, Federer v Gasquet is 2-2 on Clay (Rome 2011 is the last Gasquet win).

Wawrinka v Simon on Clay is 1-0 (RG 2012), Wawrinka v Gasquet is 1-0 (RG 2013).

Even though Clay is Federer's weakest, he is no slouch. The Clay decision may actually backfire on FRA, Federer has issues with speed, and Clay is slower than HC. IMO, HC was a better choice for FRA.

I would still pick Tsonga, Gasquet for singles, and Benneteau/Tsonga for Doubles. Monfils and Simon will not do much for FRA.

Bad choice to go for clay, IMO.

I think clays a bad choice, none of the French team are that much scratch on the red stuff, whilst its Stans best surface, and Feds a former French champ, even if hes not as good on it anymore. Gasquet's a riddle, I personally wouldnt pick him, hes still a question mark between the ear in big matches, and hes lost to Stan 2 sets up in the French before, and hes worse against Federer. Simon today at least showed he could push the Fed, and clay at least suits his game.

I wonder, did they choose clay for Monfils, and then couldnt change it once he got injured?

ERV and Benneteau should play the doubles, especially as they won the FO this year.

Very difficult isn't it? Looking at it, I'd say you can't pick Gasquet because he doesn't stand a snowballs chance of beating Federer over five , so at best he's a 1-1 type player, and I'd make Wawrinka the favourite for their clash.

I'd personally give Simón and Tsonga a go.

kingraf wrote:I'd personally give Simón and Tsonga a go.

If Simon can play 57-shot rallies, then Federer should be very careful.

When France chose Clay, they probably not only had their player's ability in mind, but also the effect of going from indoor HC to Clay within two weeks for the Swiss team, whereas France will have an extra week to practice on this very different surface - and in the venue itself...
As for the pick, I guess Monfils was in the plan (is he injured now?) as he showed good form and has been dangerous on Clay. Tsonga will be there for sure.
I think they'll have some discussion after Bercy to choose their players - maybe a few days together to assess how each player feel. (Inviting Tsonga, Gasquet, Simon, Benneteau and Monfils)
In the same way Czech Rep found a different gear for DC, Gasquet et al. are well capable of winning any match when playing for the DC...

I'd go with Tsonga/Simon/Benneteau/Gasquet - Simon because of current form (I feel he's currently a bit underrated, although he could quickly become overrated - but his US Open and now Shanghai have been big - he's on song currently)

I wonder if the fact USA beat Switzerland on indoor clay back in 2012 came into their thinking? Federer said he found it extremely difficult to play on, as its indoors the clay plays different and its hard to rally. Isner took him out quite handily I remember.

I think Simon is more likely to beat Wawrinka than Gasquet is, especially the way Stan has been playing of late. Seems very impatient when he's not playing well and Simon could very easily frustrate him with his playing style. Gasquet would be the better choice for doubles, Gilles is a poor volleyer

As Henman Bill points out in the race thread, Tsonga most certainly too far to reach WTF means the French team has an extra 2 weeks of preparation for the DC Final - plenty of time for Clement to evaluate who'll form the team too...
Eventually, in all likeliness it would be Tsonga / Gasquet / Benneteau: In form players have a history of tanking their DC final with France (Llodra went to Paris SF before losing to Troicki for Serbia in match 5, PH Mathieu won 2 tournaments in a row before losing match 5 to Russia..)

Well the team is Tsonga, Simon, Gasquet and Monfils.

Wonder if not having a doubles specialist might come back and haunt them?

No Benneteau for the doubles?

Indeed. Also a handy singles player.

Think the French more or less just gift wrapped the Davis Cup to the Swiss.

I agree also  Benneteau is capable of upsetting Fed. He has given him the runaround on a few occasions.. Definitely a useful doubles player
...sorry Reechard your not my choice !!

That said he just missed a dolly of an overhead smash to give the break to the Spanish duo in their WTF Match

Oh well I want the Spaniards to win .. so thanks for that Julien