Davis Cup Finals: Surface Mishaps

The tennis world has applauded Great Britain making it through to their first Davis cup final since 1978, with the opportunity to be crowned champions for the first time since 1936!  Great Britain go in as favourites against Belgium with Andy Murray being the difference maker, while Belgium have chosen indoor clay as the surface of choice, rather unsurprisingly.  This intrigues me as the Davis cup final is littered with examples of a home nation choosing a surface to negate the opposition but backfiring spectacularly, let us look at some recent scenarios.

1995 Russia v USA

1995 was the year of the super squad, with the Americans boasting the two top players in the world who traded the number 1 position all year. Legend has it that at the start of 1995, Agassi and Sampras told Captain Tom Gullickson one would only play if the other was playing!  For back up, the Americans boasted Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Todd Martin and doubles specialists in Richie Renenberg.  The Russians despite having Yvefgeny Kafelnikov and Andre Chesnokov knew they were underdogs, so chose indoor clay in the Olympic stadium, ensuring the clay was watered and as slow as humanly possible to play on; all designed to put the hardcourt specialists of the Americans off their game. 

The first rubber between Sampras and Chesnokov was a gruelling affair which Sampras took 6-4 in the fifth; the match point was especially dramatic as Sampras collapsed and had to be carried off the court like a war veteran! Kafelnikov squared the tie beating Jim Courier in straight sets; Courier stood in for Agassi who was carrying an injury and couldn’t play the final.  Much to everyone’s surprise, Sampras came out the next day and played doubles with Todd Martin against Kafelnikov and Ohlhosky and won in straight sets to put the Americans ahead 2-1 in the final. In the reverse singles, Sampras beat Kafelnikov in straight sets to seal the Davis cup triumph against the odds of injury to Agassi and near exhaustion to Sampras.

Looking back, choosing an indoor hardcourt would probably have been a better option.

1999 France v Australia

Four years after Russia chose indoor clay which backfired; France decided to choose the same surface against Australia in Nice.  With Pat Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Philippoussis and the number 1 doubles pair of Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge, the French figured the only way to slow Australia down was to choose slow red clay.  Rafter couldn’t play the event because of shoulder trouble so Philippoussis stepped up, winning both of his rubbers against Sebastian Grosjean and then decisively in four sets against Cedric Pioline; after Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge gave Australia the advantage on the middle Saturday. 

In fact, France were not able to take Australia to five sets in any of the rubbers that mattered.  The scoreline appeared more respectable as Sebastien Grosjean defeated Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets in the dead rubber.  However, it was Australia’s first Davis cup triumph since the 1980s when they boasted players such as Pat Cash, John Fitzgerald, Paul McNamee and Wally Masur.  As for France, it was a strange decision, considering they beat the mighty United States in the 1991 Davis cup final on a quick indoor court.

2001 Australia v France

In 2001 it was Australia’s turn to host the final as France hosted their 1999 encounter. Naturally, France were looking for revenge but Australia figured they held the trump card with choice of surface; this time the Aussies chose fast grass, their favourite. The only problem was, nobody told the committee French players have always preferred fast grass to slow clay!  Cedric Pioline played the Wimbledon final in 1997, more recently Grosjean, Gasquet and Tsonga have all played in Wimbledon semifinals.  In the womens game, Natalie Tauziat played the Wimbledon final in 1998, Amelie Mauresmo won Wimbledon in 2006 and Marion Bartoli in 2013.

Back to 2001, Australia certainly had the grass court specialists so on the face of it looked a good decision.  The final was held in Melbourne Park, home of the Australian Open.  The first day ended 1:1 with Nicholas Escude defeating Lleyton Hewitt in five sets and Pat Rafter defeating Sebastian Grosjean in straight sets.  The doubles however went the way of the French with Pioline and Santoro defeating Hewitt and Rafter in four sets.  However, for the reverse singles Pat Rafter’s injuries’ flared up again and was not able to play.  Australia came back into the tie with Lleyton Hewitt defeating Sebastien Grosjean meaning it all came down to the final rubber, with Wayne Arthurs standing in for Rafter to play Nicholas Escude. Escude was a strong player with a good grass court record, having run Andre Agassi close in the Wimbledon quarterfinal that year.  Unfortunately for Australia, Escude played an inspired match and exacted revenge on the Aussies’ favourite surface.

2002 France v Russia

It’s fair to say some simply do not learn their lesson; that will apply to France.  In 1991 and 1996 when France won the Davis cup, on each occasion they triumphed on quick indoor surfaces. However, France were up to their crazy tricks again, deciding to choose slow indoor clay when they had no players who would be considered clay court specialists.  I can only assume it was to negate the hardcourt prowess of Safin and Kafelnikov.  The tie was played in Paris Bercy home of the annual Masters tournament.  After day 1, the tie was even with Safin beating Paul Henri Mattheu in four sets, whilst Grosjean defeated a laboured Kafelnikov in straight sets.  The doubles rubber went to France with Escude and Santoro defeating Kafelnikov and Safin five sets.

Consequently as so often in Davis cup, it all came down to the reverse singles.  Safin got the Russians back in the tie with a straight sets victory over Sebastien Grosjean, therefore, all French eyes were on Paul Henri Mattheu to take France home against Mikael Youzhny, who stood in for a “crocked” Kafelnikov.  Back in 2002 I thought Mattheu was a promising young player who might have a good career.  Mattheu went two sets up and everything was looking good, but inexplicably folded as Youhzny came back to win in five sets, and Russia won the Davis cup for the first time in front of a huge French crowd.  Sadly for Mattheu, that defeat finished his career before it began, he never recovered from that loss and became a journeyman player who compiled a dreadful five set losing record for the rest of his career.

2014 France v Switzerland

Here we go again with the French.  It is ironic that France is the home of the clay grand slam tournament, and yet France cannot produce clay court specialists.  However, the French decided again not to fight fire with fire but to wave the white flag before the tie was played; that was my feeling before the match with the choice of surface and that’s how it proved.  France had six players at their disposal against essentially a two man Swiss team.  In fact, Roger Federer was not at his best having withdrawn from the ATP World final a few days prior with a bad back; theoretically France should have liked their chances.  The only problem was, the two Swiss players were grand slam champions and France had no champions, a huge mental block.

In the first singles, Warwinka took care of Tsonga in four sets; however Monfils beat Federer quite easily in straight sets.  The two man team of Switzerland came back on the Saturday and defeated Benneteau and Gasquet in three very straightforward sets.  In the reverse singles, Gasquet stood in for the injured Tsonga, which made no difference as Federer won in three easy sets to win the tie three rubbers to one; despite the fact that France played in front of a record tennis crowd in Lille, had six players to choose from and Federer suffering from a back problem.  For some unknown reason, well only to the French federation, they seem paralysed to take on opponents on a surface that would favour themselves as well as the opposition.