Davis Cup Final: France vs Belgium

Davis Cup final between France and Belgium about to start. Match will be in Lille, just a stone's throw from the Belgian border. The French, with their strength in depth and history in the competition are obvious favourites against Belgium, who will be relying heavily on Goffin and have never won a Davis Cup title. But, strange things happen in the Davis Cup, so you never know!

Interestingly, France, despite the talented players they have at their disposal haven't won the competition in 16 years - they are serious under-achievers in the competition during that time.

1st match is Goffin vs Pouille, and really, to have any chance of pulling off an upset, this is a must win rubber for Goffin, who is yet to beat Pouille in the 3 times they've played.

Next up will be Tsonga vs Darcis, which you would expect Tsonga to win reasonably comfortably.

For the doubles team captain Noah has made an unusual decision - poor old Mahut is dropped, whilst his regular doubles partner Herbert (who didn't play at the World Tour Finals due to injury) will play with Gasquet for the first time. Looks an odd decision, but given the overall quality of the French side Noah does have bit of room for manoeuvre to experiment.

Goffin off to a storming start, 2 sets up against Pouille - this tie is going to be less one-sided than it would have appeared on paper.

No surprise there, but yes keeps things more interesting.

And Tsonga's about to comfortably see off Darcis in straight sets. Will Belgium go all out, putting Goffin in the doubles tomorrow?

MrInvisible wrote:And Tsonga's about to comfortably see off Darcis in straight sets.  Will Belgium go all out, putting Goffin in the doubles tomorrow?

Well if they thought about putting Goffin in they obviously decided against it and lost without him. Going to be tough now for Belgium.
   Goffin should have played in the doubles. It made no sense to "keep him fresh" for the singles if they lose the doubles and then lose 3-2 whether he wins his second singles or not. I remember equally boneheaded decision making involving Djoko in a DC final some time back when they kept him fresh for his singles but still lost 3-2. 
   Must say that France took a chance not featuring Herbert and Mahut (unless there were injury concerns).

It does depend a bit on how good a player is at doubles, and how good their doubles specialists are. Djokovic isn't much of a volleyer and doesn't play doubles a lot, he might not be very good. Not sure about Goffin.

Sunday's first singles: Goffin takes the first set v Tsonga on the tiebreak. Match available thanks to a BBC online link. Tsonga constantly threatened the Goffin serve during that first set but conceded minibreaks in the tiebreak.
   Goffin playing very well, although one wonders just how tired he's going to get.


Latest- Goffin wins in straight sets, but France a set up in 5th and deciding match. Pouille against Darcis.

The 5th game showing how badly Goffin should have played in the doubles. Might not be a double specialist or a keen volleyer but likely better than someone ranked outside of the top 100... specially keeping in mind France double choking history. Anyway thanks for that, that was probably France easiest DC campaign ever: Japan without Nishikori, GB without Murray and Serbia without Djokovic.

Doubles was always likely to settle it. Heroics from Goffin, though, who has had a sensational end to the season.

In the end, despite looking nervous at times in the 1st set, Pouille just had too much firepower for Darcis. Shame that Goffin's efforts were in vain, but on the other hand, happy for the French to finally win the trophy with the likes of Monfils (didn't play the final but has given a lot to the team over the years), Tsonga and Gasquet in the ranks - wouldn't have felt right that generation missing out on Davis Cup.

Goffin's rise up the rankings following his great end to the season should stand him in good stead for a decent run or 2 in the big tournaments next year, avoiding dangerous opponents earlier on. As for Pouille, he's undoubtedly talented, but as with many a French player over the years, the mental side of the game appears to let him down a bit.

well done France