For the 17th time in its history, the team of France to participate in a tennis Davis Cup final. She will face Switzerland , from 21 to 23 November in Lille (Nord). France won the competition nine times. The last time was in 2001 against Australia.
The Davis Cup is a competition to share in world tennis landscape. It brings together players used to train and play alone, sometimes against each other. How to create a team spirit in these conditions? What obstacles or surprises may arise from this organization? Elements of answer.
All the players are not attached in the same way in the Davis Cup. Some, like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, particularly to take. “For me, tennis is the Davis Cup , likes to say, the current world number 12. It’s always something that pushed me in my career. “
The collective imagination full of strong players that only a victory or defeat in the national team can create times. Richard Gasquet, quoted by AFP, remembers watching such videos on the two coronations of 1991 and 1996, and have moved with his father for two lost finals in 1999 against Australia and Nice in 2002 Bercy (Paris) against Russia. “I remember the match against Arnaud Boetsch Nicklas Kulti [in the final won by France against Sweden in 1996], tells his side Gilles Simon. I do not know more how old I was. But the three match points, it is one of memories that stay in my head. ”
the captain playing on the rope to create a collective energy. Arnaud Clement, patron of the current team of France, is reassuring for the finals: “The Davis Cup is an amazing competition, unique in a career, says -it . All the players are now aware. I felt deep in their guts they wanted to. The looks, exchanges between them and the words, everything is very sincere. “
Gael Monfils dissects this mindset, shared at the highest point. “The competition is easy because we are all friends , he said, quoted by FranceTV sport. Apart Julien Benneteau, we played together in youth teams. We are close and lucid on physical and mental condition of our friends, so it’s easier for them to hear my speech, for example, when I decided not to go. “ Finished the strokes in the locker room after the defeat Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 2013, in the quarterfinals. Now players are talking.
If the need for a cohesive group is often advanced by the French tennis players, it’s an argument that applies to many teams. Djokovic after the card is that of “team spirit” is proposed to explain the success of Serbia in 2010, according to NDTV Sports (English) . Thus, the dissensions which would have appeared between Swiss Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka on the sidelines of the London Masters, November 15, suggest a misunderstanding on the ground in case of a double with two men in the final, or a lack of motivation troops before D-Day.
So galvanized by the group, some players may excel. As noted by The Equipe.fr the ATP rankings (individual) is often denied by team tournament. Henri Leconte beating Pete Sampras in 1991, Marc Rosset who overcomes Jim Courier in 1992 or Nicolas Escude corrects Lleyton Hewitt in 2001, all these games are all against performance and performances that mark the history of the discipline.
If it can help overcome some situations, cohesion within a group is far from explaining all the results. Proof of this is some dysfunctional teams still won the Davis Cup. “I s not forget that countries like Russia have also taken away without forming a real team , says Michael Llodra, quoted by Tennis.com We Are For the week -. ends Tournament Marat Safin Nikolay Davydenko did not eat together and trained with their personal coach. It shows that you can win with an addition of individuals, but it has to be very strong players. “
This is probably the unpredictability of this competition which makes salt. Guy Forget, team captain of France between 1999 and 2012, is well placed to know: “You never know what will happen he tells the Point.fr . Anything can happen. That’s what makes the Cup Davis so exciting. In France, it is a special emotion. If we saw some players to miss, it’s just because the wait was so strong that they struggled to digest it. “ The French will they channel this pressure, this weekend in Lille? This is all we could offer them.
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