Swiss Finally at Home
Roger FEDERER (SUI) v Nicolas ESCUDE (FRA)
Ivo HEUBERGER (SUI) v Arnaud CLEMENT (FRA)
Roger FEDERER/Yves ALLEGRO (SUI) v Nicolas ESCUDE/Michael LLODRA (FRA)
Roger FEDERER (SUI) v Arnaud CLEMENT (FRA)
Ivo HEUBERGER (SUI) v Nicolas ESCUDE (FRA)
He may have been Swiss captain for a year and a half, but it has taken until
now for Marc Rosset to captain his national team in a home Davis Cup by BNP
Paribas tie, as Switzerland host France in Prilly.
Rosset, who beat the world No. 1 Jim Courier in the 1992 Davis Cup Final,
will be hoping there are no further defeats for the world No. 1, as his
side's hopes rest largely with the current world-best Roger Federer. At
Thursday's draw at the Olympic Museum, Federer was like a magnet for
journalists and fans, as he prepares to play his first match in Switzerland
since taking over the top ranking spot in January.
Asked whether he was carrying extra pressure by being No. 1, Federer said:
"It's extra pleasure. We've been on the road in Davis Cup for the past three
years, so it's really nice to be back home, especially after what happened in
Neuchatel against France three years ago. That defeat was probably the worst
tie for me."
Federer will open what is Switzerland's first home tie since that dramatic
French victory in the fifth set of the fifth rubber. His opponent will be
France's hero from that tie, Nicolas Escude, who was always nominated in
this weekend's French team but will now play singles and doubles following
the withdrawal through illness of Sebastien Grosjean.
"Sebastien has been letting me down in the last three matches," joked
France's captain Guy Forget. "He couldn't play the fourth rubber against
Switzerland in last year's quarterfinal, he was injured for the first round
tie against Croatia, and now poor guy he's ill again. So it's very
frustrating, but with the other guys on the team we can hold the flag
really high, and I hope our team spirit will do the rest."
The only selection issue was who Rosset would nominate to play the second
singles against France's Arnaud Clement. In the end he went for the
134th-ranked Heuberger over the more experienced Kratochvil. "Ivo is getting
the better results," Rosset explained, "so I wanted to give him the chance
against Clement where he has absolutely nothing to lose, but that still
leaves the option open of using Kratochvil in the fifth match on Sunday if
we need to."
Of the 11 meetings between the two nations, the French have won nine, and
the good omen for them is that Switzerland's only two victories have both
come on French soil. Also, after three years, a home tie is something new
for the Swiss, one which revives memories of the Neuchatel quarterfinal in
which Escude saved a match point before beating George Bastl 86 in the fifth
set of the fifth rubber.
Escude will have to tap into some of the 2001 form that saw him become the
year's outstanding Davis Cup player. Unless Federer suffers an unexpected
singles defeat, it seems certain France cannot win without taking the
doubles, in which Escude will partner Mickael Llodra against Federer and
Yves Allegro. Assuming Federer wins his two singles, Escude could well find
himself back in the position he excels at - playing a live fifth rubber in a
vital Davis Cup tie.
http://www.daviscup.com/news/newsarticle.asp?id=12853
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