Immediately I want to dispel the myth that the French team is an opponent convenient for us. Yes, over the past two years we met twice with the Guy Forge team and have never lost to her. But if you carefully study the statistics of each meeting, you can see that there was not a single passing match. Each time, in order to defeat an opponent, one had to come up with something new, non-standard. And “convenience” in sports is when you offer your opponent the same tactics, and it works every time.
Another nuance lies in the field of psychology. Yesterday I already wrote that we are all considered favorites in this match, and the French are not taken into account especially. I hope that we can handle this pressure and no one will celebrate victory in advance. But one hundred percent of the tension still can not get rid of.
But the French have no headaches about this at all. Of course, they want to win, to interrupt this unsuccessful series of games for them with the Russians. But if they lose, no one will criticize them strongly. Therefore, they calmly prepare for themselves, focusing all their attention on training. From my own experience I know that the most dangerous opponent is not strong, but calm.
If we talk about personalities, then the leader of the “three-color”, of course, is 20-year-old Richard Gasquet. And Guy Forge will bet on him in the first place. Is this guy stronger than one of our guys? I think no. But in terms of potential, he is a solid player in the top ten of the ATP rating and will be in it very soon. The main advantage of Gasquet is that he is a very versatile tennis player: he can quickly change tactics during the match depending on the opponent and his own condition. In addition, the soil is the young Frenchman's favorite cover, on which he sometimes looks no worse than the Spaniards and the Argentines. It will be hard for any of ours to play with Richard. And, I think, these two matches will largely determine the outcome of the entire confrontation.
Another trump card in the French deck is a couple. I have repeatedly written on this blog how paramount a pair game is in Davis Cup matches. And taking into account the fact that we don’t have a duet played as such, we have now focused on this, we are trying all possible combinations in training. The rivals have long played and very strong duet Michel Llodra - Arno Clement, who, by the way, we have never been able to beat.
Now about our old friend - Paul Henri Mathieu. Everyone, of course, remembers that it was Misha Yuzhny who defeated him in the decisive fifth match of the 2002 final, and after that defeat, the career of the promising Frenchman stalled. The guy could not bear the failure, apparently psychologically broke. In 2005, again, we lost both matches, including the decisive, fifth. I don’t know if he has a complex in front of Russian tennis players. I would like to think that this is so. But for some reason I’m sure that this time Mathieu is preparing for the games with our tennis players in a special way. To win at least one victory is a matter of honor for him, and honor for the French, as you know, is above all.
In conclusion, I note that Guy Forge has not yet fully decided on the candidates for the match and may well give a surprise at the last moment. In reserve he has Sebastian Grosjean, Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon. All the famous and strong players, and one of them may well be in the first team instead of the same Mathieu. But who is this? Shersh eh ohm *.
* Look for a man (French).