France Fired up for Third Final in a Row

[Gasquet (Remember his name!)]

來源 DC官網
04 Feb 2003, David Law

France Fired up for Third Final in a Row

They say a wounded animal is a dangerous animal, and that seems a fairly
accurate summing-up of the French Davis Cup team as they prepare for their
World Group first round tie in Romania, February 7-9.

Losing to Russia in defence of their Davis Cup title in Paris last November
did hurt Sebastien Grosjean, Paul-Henri Mathieu and the rest, but Grosjean
got away from it all afterwards, and as he explained, the loss will only
serve to strengthen their team bond.

“It was really tough at the beginning and for the four or five days after,”
he said. “But I went back home, I was with my wife, my daughter and my son
and I spent a good time with them. I went to Orlando with my daughter,
thought about something else and tried to enjoy the ‘real’ part of my
life.”

It did the trick.

“You learn more when you lose,” said the Florida-based player,
philosophically.

“When you win everything is fine, but when you lose you have a lot of
questions for yourself and you try to improve your game." 

Considering that France have already featured in three finals in the past
four years, that statement might well send shivers down the spines of Andrei
Pavel and his Romanian team-mates.

Not that the 24-year-old Grosjean is underestimating them. Captain Guy Forget
appears to have instilled a unique sense of team spirit in his players –
ensuring that they meet up 10 days in advance of each tie to prepare. The
French group are probably not mega-stars in their own right but their sense
of togetherness makes them almost irresistible. 

“It’s going to be tough to play in Romania – they have good players,”
said Grosjean.

“But we have good players too and we are really a team. In Davis Cup that
can make the difference.” 

Such spirit was perfectly personified by the way that every member of the
French side comforted the 21-year-old Mathieu, whose heart-breaking demise
against Mikhail Youzhny from two sets up, ultimately cost them the Davis Cup.
The French side simply surrounded Mathieu and shared his pain. In true French
musketeer style, this was a case of One For All and All For One. 

Certainly Grosjean believes Mathieu has the guts and the game to come back
stronger and better than before.

“He is young, he has great potential, he has won two tournaments in a row
last year (Moscow and Lyon) and he’s a really, really good player,” said
Grosjean. “He is going to learn a lot from that match and he wants to come
back and play a lot of Davis Cup matches.”

Grosjean himself has his sights set on bettering his own performances at the
Grand Slam tournaments – he has reached semifinals at the Australian Open
and at Roland Garros – and to infiltrate the world’s top five for the
first time.

But for the French team, there is only one goal – to make another Davis Cup
final and win it, just as they did in Melbourne in 2001.

“Davis Cup is really popular in France and all the players want to do their
best for the country,” said Grosjean.

“We hope that every time we start a Davis Cup match that we will win. We
have played three finals in four years, which is pretty good, but we want to
play more.”

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