Gasquet Disappointed with Doubles Performance: I Could Have Played Better
While there aren’t many teams capable of earning victories over the Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka duo when you are at their best, Richard Gasquet was still disappointed with his lackluster showing in the Davis Cup doubles rubber on Saturday afternoon.
“I could have played better,” said Gasquet afterwards. “I was not able to make the breakpoints I had in the second set. If we would have had a break, of course that doesn’t mean we would have won, but we would have been in a better position for winning this second set where we had five breakpoints.”
The Swiss duo had the benefit of some quick training from Bryan Brothers coach David Macpherson ahead of the rubber and that certainly benefited their performance against the French duo. While Benneteau appeared to be fit for playing, Gasquet appeared lost and never found his way back into the match.
“I’m disappointed with the match, but the opponents played extremely well. They are extremely strong. They had very good returns. They played very interesting combinations. It was impressive.”
French captain Arnaud Clement is well aware of the task at hand for his singles players, Tsonga and potentially Monfils. If the French team is to lift the title on home soil, they can no longer afford to concede a point fro the remainder of the tie.
“Of course it’s going to be very, very difficult now, with a lot of hope in these doubles,” said Clement. “We have to do something big, very big. We still have a chance, and we’re going to try as hard as possible. It’s a big challenge, big challenge for us, to beating No. 2 and 4 in the world in the final of Davis Cup.”
“But even if we have a little chance, we’re going to try.”
