In the last final of the Davis Cup, which will be played in the traditional form, Marin Cilic’s Croats will be the light favourites against hosts and defending champions France.
Every tennis match starts from zero to zero – and that applies even more to the Davis Cup finale in Lille next weekend. There France will try to defend the title from last year, the Croats turn to process the trauma of 2016. Argentina were in Zagreb at that time, Marin Cilic had every chance to decide against Juan Martin del Potro – but in the end Diego Maradona danced in the stands. And with him, the great Argentine fan delegation.
One of the greatest football players of the past decades is not to be expected in Lille. But very well again with a balanced competition of two nations that start with balanced teams. Even if only one man will be at the start in the singles, who also actively intervened in the ATP Finals in London: Marin Cilic just now.
After all, the French can counter with a strong double – Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut played after a difficult start with the injury Mahut up to the final, lost there only in the match tiebreak Jack Sock and Mike Bryan.
Cilic was only able to convince in London to a certain extent: against Alexander Zverev the Croatian was twice in the lead with a break, then lost in the tiebreak in two sets. The Croatian number one won his only victory against John Isner – in the only three-set match of the entire singles competition. The last appearance against Novak Djokovic was without much relevance, Cilic had no chance to advance to the semi-finals before his two-set defeat against the world number one.
Borna Coric, the Croats’ second single player, also had a presence in the O2 Arena – and was instrumental in Roger Federer leaving the training sessions in a rather bad mood at the beginning of the week. Too solid the Form Corics, who worked his way up to the top ten with a strong seasonal finish.
Yannick Noah relies mainly on Lucas Pouille in the singles, who only finished last year in 32nd place in the world rankings. Pouille had scored the decisive point against Belgium in 2017, this time he goes into both singles as an outsider. Jeremy Chardy is probably the second man for the singles – unless Noah actually pulls the big joker: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The latter had to take a seven-month break between February and September. And after his return to Metz he could win exactly one match: against Guido Pella in Antwerp. The great motivational artist Yannick Noah is in demand – because with Mate Pavic and Ivan Dodig the Croats in Lille will also have a competent double.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login