In the football stadium in Lille, France will be welcoming Belgium to the Davis Cup Final (from 2 p. m. onwards in the live ticker and on DAZN!). The team Tricolore is the favourite, the guests count on vice-world champion David Goffin.
David Goffin has been part of an illustrious circle since last week. As the sixth professional tennis player of all time, the Belgian player managed the feat of defeating superstars Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in a tournament. With the victory at the ATP final in London, it didn’t turn out to be anything, but from Friday onwards Goffin will have the next chance to crown his impressive final spurt with a prestigious title.
A few kilometres behind the border, the Belgians will play for their first Davis Cup triumph at the Lille football stadium against France. More than 27,000 spectators are expected, and until recently the hosts were considered favourites for the title.
After his victories over Nadal and Federer, however, Goffin also believes in the success – despite the final defeat in London against Grigor Dimitrov (5:7,6:4,3:6)”We are convinced that we can win, otherwise we wouldn’t have to compete at all,” said the seventh in the world rankings, who played at the season-end tournament on the Thames in front of 17,500 spectators. The atmosphere will be even wilder than London.”
Goffin (26) is the only top 10 player in the game and the Belgian hopeful on two separate points, but the responsibility in the team of guests is spread over many shoulders. When Goffin lost to Germany in the first round, Steve Darcis brought his side into the quarter-finals with victories over Philipp Kohlschreiber and Alexander Zverev. The team spirit had already led Belgium to the final in 2015.
Even though Great Britain triumphed in Genk at that time, Goffin can say from his own experience:”This is a great event and very important for our country. It would be unbelievable to come home with the trophy” Apart from the vice-world champion, who has won 19 of his 22 singles in the Davis Cup so far, and seasoned Darcis (33), Ruben Bemelmans (29) and Arthur De Greef (25) are nominated.
Belgium could write tennis history on the hard court in Lille, France is playing tennis at the end of its own dry spell. The team Tricolore won the last of nine titles in the traditional team competition 16 years ago. Since then, the proud French men have failed three times in the final – most recently in Lille in 2014, also due to Federer’s Swiss side:”We want to write our own story,”said team boss Yannick Noah.
The 1983 French Open winner relies on the indestructible Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (32), who returned to form at the end of the tennis year. Lucas Pouille (23) is also among the world’s best, as are the double specialists Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. However, Herbert suffers from back pain, so that Julien Benneteau (35) will also be used shortly before the end of his career. In the backhand, Noah also has the former Wimbledon semi-finalist Richard Gasquet (31) and thus the spoilt for choice.