France Wants Sea Level Davis Cup Tie With US

Written by: Staff on 14th February 2012

France Wants Sea Level Davis Cup Tie With US |

French Davis Cup captain Guy Forget insists he will not fall into the same trap as Switzerland did over the weekend against the United States and is looking for an outdoor venue, preferably warm but most importantly at sea level, to stage the World Group quarter final against Jim Courier’s team.

Nice and Pau are currently the paramount venues in Forget’s thinking for the tie to be staged April 6-8 but the important thing is not to give any assistance to the serve of John Isner which proved virtually unplayable last weekend in Fribourg which stands 2,000 feet above sea level.

“We won’t make the mistake the Swiss may have made, playing at altitude,” insisted Forget who became a national hero 21 years ago when he beat Pete Sampras in Lyon to give France an insurmountable 3-1 lead over the United States and propel his nation to its’ first Davis Cup title in 59 years.

“We must, in my opinion, chose a rather slow surface and absolutely avoid a high-bouncing one, because a player like John Isner is truly poisonous.”

Forget is in his 13th and probably last year as the French Davis Cup captain. He intends to go out on a high and is experienced enough to know home advantage must be made to count.

“We’ll have to choose a medium surface,” said the 47 year-old. “We talk a lot about clay. It’s a possibility, but it’s not necessarily the only one. We haven’t consulted about it yet.

“We’re absolutely determined to avoid the misadventure of the Swiss in Fribourg. Ideally, I’d say that outdoors would be better, but if we can’t find a spot to host us, we’ll have to play indoors. And the arenas likely to be about to host a tie of that magnitude, there aren’t tons of them in France .”

In L’Equipe France ’s leading player, world no.6 Jo Wilfried Tsonga, stressed a preference for clay. “Now, it’s the United States ,” he said. “That’s super; I’ve not yet played a tie of that magnitude and it will be at home.”

The two nations last met in 2008 quarter final at Winston-Salem with the U.S. team of Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan brothers winning 4-1. Prior to that the last French staged tie was the 2002 semi-final at Roland Garros when Sebasian Grosjean clinched victory with a fourth rubber win over Roddick. “It’s been a while since we’ve played in France and I think we’d be better off hosting them on clay,” concluded Tsonga.

Topics: Daivs Cup, France, US