Tennis News

It was a rubber that was considered to be pivotal for whichever team managed to take the early lead. That team was Switzerland, as their No. 2 player Stan Wawrinka opened up the proceedings with a four-set victory over the French No. 1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Although Wawrinka suffered from a lapse in concentration in the second set, he managed to maintain command of the entire encounter apart from that and eventually defeated Tsonga 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to give his team an essential 1-0 lead heading into the second rubber of the day.

The world No. 4 hit a whopping 61 winners against Tsonga and was clearly in form with his piercing backhand shots. While Tsonga put forth a valiant effort, he was simply unable to change the tide in the match. Following his disappointing conclusion to the World Tour Finals in London last week, where he failed to capitalize on four match points against Roger Federer, it appears ‘Stan the Man’ is ready to claim one final title this season.

“I’m happy with the way I’m feeling on the clay. They were a little bit maybe too focused on Roger. I did my job. I showed them I’m not no. 4 for nothing.”

In the second match of the day, Frenchman Gael Monfils put on a superb performance against a visibly struggling Roger Federer, beating him in straight sets 6-1 6-4 6-3.

More to follow…

While the Davis Cup final between Switzerland and France was already a highly anticipated event expected to garner an extraordinary contingency of fans from both nations cramming to see their countrymen make them proud, few anticipated the crowd to break the previous record set for an officially sanctioned tennis match.

However, that was certainly the case, as the ITF announced on Friday morning ahead of the opening rubber that 27,432 tickets were sold on Friday, which overtook the Spain vs USA Davis Cup Final in 2004.

The Stade Pierre Mauroy cost 282 million euros to erect.

While this will remain the record for an officially sanctioned match, the actual record for a tennis match is the famous “Battle of the Sexes” challenge match in 1973 between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King at the Houston Astrodome which drew a crowd of more than 30,000, even though it was not officially sanctioned by the sport’s governing body.

An estimated television audience between 50-90 million viewers witnessed King control the encounter against Riggs, thus beating him in three straight sets.

The Davis Cup Final will take place over three days: Day 1 for singles matches, Day 2 for the doubles rubber, and Day 3 for the reverse singles rubbers if necessary.

Following his perfect conclusion to the 2014 season, Novak Djokovic has announced his schedule for the first three months of the coming year. Amongst those mentioned events will be a debut appearance in Doha.

Djokovic will begin 2015 with an exhibition event on Jan. 2 at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships. The event will also feature the likes of Rafael Nadal, Stanislas Wawrinka, Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils.

The world No. 1 will then make his debut at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, which takes place between Jan. 4-10. This will mark the first time since 2009 that Djkovic plays a professional tournament ahead of the season-opening Grand Slam in Melbourne.

In February, Djokovic will play the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, which begins February 23rd. He will then lead his country in a Davis Cup tie against Croatia in March.

And finally, after completing the Indian Wells-Miami double this season, Djokovic will look to begin his hard court season with replicate performances this season at the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open presented by Itau.

Following a lackluster culmination to the regular ATP World Tour season, several of the world’s top players will attempt to conclude the season in dramatic fashion. A short distance away from London, the Davis Cup final will be hosted in Lille, France, and will feature an enthralling tie between Switzerland and France.

Several storylines will unfold in this potential classic – world No. 2 Roger Federer will attempt to overcome a late twist of fate that saw him withdraw from the Barclays ATP World Tour Final against Novak Djokovic, and achieve the only title missing from his illustrious trophy cabinet.

His opponent, Gael Monfils, will attempt to overcome the bitter memory of the 2010 Davis Cup final, where he lost the decisive rubber to Novak Djokovic, thus surrendering the tie to Serbia.

The first match of the day will be between Stan Wawrinka and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who have met on five previous occasions and split their previous clay court encounters 2-2.

DAVIS CUP BY BNP PARIBAS FINAL

FRANCE v SWITZERLAND

Venue: Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille (clay – indoors)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) v Stan Wawrinka (SUI)

Gael Monfils (FRA) v Roger Federer (SUI)

Julien Benneteau/Richard Gasquet (FRA) v Marco Chiudinelli/Michael Lammer (SUI)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) v Roger Federer (SUI)

Gael Monfils (FRA) v Stan Wawrinka (SUI)