2018 Davis Cup Final: France v Croatia

Meles

Bionic Poster
Dumb move by the French. Considering respective forms, the entire team were always gonna be underdogs against Cilic regardless of surface (he even had really good results on clay this year, and yes even Cilic can't choke against this lot). They should have focused on getting 2 wins on Coric and doubles, and play this on grass instead. Same story as in 2014 again, they didn't learn their lesson after they decided not to go for indoor hard/ grass against Stan and got seriously burnt.
Wawrinka on grass lol. Hold up one hand if you like the French; hold up your other hand if you are French
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Plamen1234

Hall of Fame
Wawrinka on grass lol. Hold up one hand if you like the French; hold up your other hand if you are French
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They selected clay because they thought Fedr is going to have hard time and he actually had against Monfis where Monfis straight-settled him but they forgot to notice that Stan is a good clay-court player.It was dumb decision from them and they repeated the same mistake this year.Not only they shouldnt have chosen clay but also they chose the wrong players.I mean out of form Tsonga vs Cilic - seriously?
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Dumb move by the French. Considering respective forms, the entire team were always gonna be underdogs against Cilic regardless of surface (he even had really good results on clay this year, and yes even Cilic can't choke against this lot). They should have focused on getting 2 wins on Coric and doubles, and play this on grass instead. Same story as in 2014 again, they didn't learn their lesson after they decided not to go for indoor hard/ grass against Stan and got seriously burnt.
So Coric, who won as many matches on grass in one week as he did during his entire clay season, just fluked the Halle title???

Also, exactly how many indoor grass courts exist in the world? Would they have petitioned Wimbledon or Halle to allow the tie to be played there? You can’t just grow a grass court for a weekend of play.

Homer Simpson “D’oh!” moment. smh
 

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
So Coric, who won as many matches on grass in one week as he did during his entire clay season, just fluked the Halle title???

Also, exactly how many indoor grass courts exist in the world? Would they have petitioned Wimbledon or Halle to allow the tie to be played there? You can’t just grow a grass court for a weekend of play.

Homer Simpson “D’oh!” moment. smh
I agree that chardy would have creamed Coric easily on grass. chardy really owns coric on super fast surfaces
 

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
Dumb move by the French. Considering respective forms, the entire team were always gonna be underdogs against Cilic regardless of surface (he even had really good results on clay this year, and yes even Cilic can't choke against this lot). They should have focused on getting 2 wins on Coric and doubles, and play this on grass instead. Same story as in 2014 again, they didn't learn their lesson after they decided not to go for indoor hard/ grass against Stan and got seriously burnt.
I think you will get your wish tomorrow. Tsonga is injured and won't play and chardy proved he suck on clay. so Pouille and Gasquet is IN
 

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
Unless the rules have recently been changed I don’t believe he’s an option either. The options are Mahut, Herbert, Pouille, Tsonga, Chardy.

It looks like Lucas Pouille vs Marin Cilic in the 4th rubber tomorrow. and Noah said he is still thinking about who will play the 5th rubber if Pouille does win. I think if 5th rubber is live then, Tsonga will want to play, even if he isn't 100 %
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
I agree that chardy would have creamed Coric easily on grass. chardy really owns coric on super fast surfaces
Revisionist analysis...before yesterday the h2h was 2-1 Chardy, 1-1 on clay and 1-0 on HC.

The decision to play clay was made long before it fell to Chardy to be France #1. The Gasquet/Monfils unavailability is why he was chosen.
 

MCallanan

Semi-Pro
It looks like Lucas Pouille vs Marin Cilic in the 4th rubber tomorrow. and Noah said he is still thinking about who will play the 5th rubber if Pouille does win. I think if 5th rubber is live then, Tsonga will want to play, even if he isn't 100 %

If it wasn’t for Hagues-Herbert getting his shoulder worked on during today’s match I’d play him in a fifth rubber against Coric. They played once before on clay last season and Coric won in straights but it was a tight match. I feel like Hague’s-Herbert’s offensive first style of play could get Coric off his game enough to make a difference.
 

zalive

Hall of Fame
I agree that chardy would have creamed Coric easily on grass. chardy really owns coric on super fast surfaces

Well I supposed Noah looked things like h2hs and that when he made his decisions lol. Forget statistics from previous season, Borna's improvement this season is huge. His attacking game this season is something different. Besides, grass, indoors, really? Plus, Marin loves grass lol. And Borna won Halle against Federer...he can play grass.

Clay was no mistake by itself. French are loaded with good players who don't mind clay or even prefer it. And the plan was simple, put the surface which is the worst option for Marin. However when few important players get injured, and with Noah obviously not being in good relations with few important players for this particular match, namely Monfils and Simon, then well...those are real problems, clay isn't.

But why crying for French, they have last season's title...enough.
 
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Subway Tennis

G.O.A.T.
It looks like Lucas Pouille vs Marin Cilic in the 4th rubber tomorrow. and Noah said he is still thinking about who will play the 5th rubber if Pouille does win. I think if 5th rubber is live then, Tsonga will want to play, even if he isn't 100 %

Definitely Pouille. Noah has said in interviews that he will wait for doctor's advice about whether Tsonga can play. This is a diplomatic move as a gesture to Tsonga so that when he is replaced Noah can say it is on doctor's orders rather than for form reasons. Nice diplomacy from Noah and will help with team chemistry.

The last doubles day was really an amazing day of tennis and the adrenaline from the crowd was incredible to watch.

We will never see this particular type of electrifying Davis Cup format again now thanks to the Fast Food style new DC format in the new year.

LOL, Croatia will still manage to choke this one.
I knew it.

Croatia will win imo. Maybe not easily (you never know when Noah is in control). Coric is on another level at the moment. Credit the French for the great doubles effort to carry the event into a live third day.
 

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
Definitely Pouille. Noah has said in interviews that he will wait for doctor's advice about whether Tsonga can play. This is a diplomatic move as a gesture to Tsonga so that when he is replaced Noah can say it is on doctor's orders rather than for form reasons. Nice diplomacy from Noah and will help with team chemistry.

The last doubles day was really an amazing day of tennis and the adrenaline from the crowd was incredible to watch.

We will never see this particular type of electrifying Davis Cup format again now thanks to the Fast Food style new DC format in the new year.



Croatia will win imo. Maybe not easily (you never know when Noah is in control). Coric is on another level at the moment. Credit the French for the great doubles effort to carry the event into a live third day.
Definitely Pouille. Noah has said in interviews that he will wait for doctor's advice about whether Tsonga can play. This is a diplomatic move as a gesture to Tsonga so that when he is replaced Noah can say it is on doctor's orders rather than for form reasons. Nice diplomacy from Noah and will help with team chemistry.

The last doubles day was really an amazing day of tennis and the adrenaline from the crowd was incredible to watch.

We will never see this particular type of electrifying Davis Cup format again now thanks to the Fast Food style new DC format in the new year.



Croatia will win imo. Maybe not easily (you never know when Noah is in control). Coric is on another level at the moment. Credit the French for the great doubles effort to carry the event into a live third day.
it will be tough for lucas. Queery beat cilic but queery has power to blow away anybody but lucas is more of steady player
 

Subway Tennis

G.O.A.T.
it will be tough for lucas. Queery beat cilic but queery has power to blow away anybody but lucas is more of steady player

Exactly. Pouille will find it very difficult to hang with Cilic. Different story with the Destroyer Querrey. On his day, Sam can beat anyone anywhere with his power and attacking game.
 

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
Exactly. Pouille will find it very difficult to hang with Cilic. Different story with the Destroyer Querrey. On his day, Sam can beat anyone anywhere with his power and attacking game.
That umpire has nice butt. anyway, lucas serving just as big as querry, around 138 mph. how does a short guy do this ?
 

zalive

Hall of Fame
I now fully understand why Noah didn't nominate Pouille for the friday.
With how he entered into the match, Borna would likely eat him alive, just as he did Chardy.
And then into the sunday with ruined self-confidence...this way, Noah saved him for the sunday.
 

zalive

Hall of Fame
I dunno about Trump undershirt but this is the same situation as 2 years ago for him.

This is a completely wrong view on that match 2 years ago.
Marin actually played a great match against Delpo and he didn't lose his gameplan and composure until the fifth set. When he started to play 'va banque' which was not a good idea. Unfortunately, he did have a chance in that fifth set, though the match was completely open regardless of that break he got (it was at the beginning of the set).
It was Delpo who was raising his game throughout the match and who from one moment on would not let his serve broken until the fifth set.
Marin was playing unbelieveably well for the first two sets, this is a level which is hard to maintain throughout the whole match. He was still playing really well until the fifth set, but Delpo nevertheless got to 2:2. It was Delpo's credit.
Delpo is a champion, he was worth multiple GS's if it wasn't for the injuries and surgeries. He's simply a better player than Marin even with everything that happened to him.

Which brings us to today. Pouille is not Delpo. French have that huge audience support in Lille and it's something that may help a domestic player, but Marin is completely on his own on this match. He decides the winner.
 
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MCallanan

Semi-Pro
This is a completely wrong view on that match 2 years ago.
Marin actually played a great match against Delpo and he didn't lose his gameplan and composure until the fifth set. When he started to play 'va banque' which was not a good idea. Unfortunately, he did have a chance in that fifth set, though the match was completely open regardless of that break he got (it was at the beginning of the set).
It was Delpo who was raising his game throughout the match and who from one moment on would not let his serve broken until the fifth set.
Marin was playing unbelieveably well for the first two sets, this is a level which is hard to maintain throughout the whole match. He was still playing really well until the fifth set, but Delpo nevertheless got to 2:2. It was Delpo's credit.
Delpo is a champion, he was worth multiple GS's if it wasn't for the injuries and surgeries. He's simply a better player than Marin even with everything that happened to him.

Which brings us to today. Pouille is not Delpo. French have that huge audience support in Lille and it's something that may help a domestic player, but Marin is completely on his own on this match. He decides the winner.

I agree with almost everything you said except I do believe that Marin tightened up psychologically in that fifth set two years ago. His body language said he didn’t want to be on court anymore and he saw his loss as a foregone conclusion.

Obviously today is a lot different. Marin can play at his average level and he’s probably going to win this match.
 

zalive

Hall of Fame
Cilic 2-0 up and 1 set from winning the Davis Cup. Have we seen this before?

Yes.
You actually see it every time when someone wins best of five in straight sets :D

Lol stream froze on the last match point. Croatia wins

It was a beautiful lob for the match and the cup. Cilic plays it rarely instead of a passing shot, obviously he saves such stuff for special moments lol.
 

Mainad

Bionic Poster
Yes.

It was a beautiful lob for the match and the cup. Cilic plays it rarely instead of a passing shot, obviously he saves such stuff for special moments lol.

Did he win it with a lob? Shades of Murray doing the same against Goffin in the 2015 final! :)

Congrats to Marin and Team Croatia for their country 's 1st Davis Cup title since 2005!! :cool:
 

zalive

Hall of Fame
I agree with almost everything you said except I do believe that Marin tightened up psychologically in that fifth set two years ago. His body language said he didn’t want to be on court anymore and he saw his loss as a foregone conclusion.

Obviously today is a lot different. Marin can play at his average level and he’s probably going to win this match.

Marin unfortunately never thought he needed psychological sessions, at least as far as I know. He's basically tense practically in any match against any opponent of the tour level. Only when his shotmaking works so well that he feels he cannot be hurt he becomes relaxed in the match. He was tense today, too. However he's still able to play some top tennis when he's in a good form, regardless of him being tense. Probably this was the curse why he never wanted to work on his mental aspect with some professional lol. He was still good enough for certain achievements. Obviously the potential to get yet better wasn't good enough motivator to him. Perhaps his background from Herzegovina lol, those folks down there are very traditional and patriarchal, and taking some psychological sessions and excercises doesn't look too masculine lol.

With all that being said, I still think Delpo was the reason why he lost that match, not Marin.

Anyway this cup will I believe fill him with confidence for the future. He got here with the last DC match he played being losing to Querrey. In front of home crowd. On clay. Which was of course a complete choke, he was a mess. Still he was able to play two perfect matches away from home at this finals. Possibly the home pressure is stronger - domestic crowd not just wanted the 2016 win - they expected it. They demanded it. When looking through this lense, Marin's performance was top notch back then. Most of local fans here are plain stupid IMO, they don't understand tennis enough, but they are way too demanding. They don't appreciate enough what's good, but are very judgemental about what isn't. Nothing is good enough, wins are taken for granted but each loss is considered being a choke and the loser is ridiculed. IMO this cup is more than local fans actually deserved lol. However those who are true supporters shall really both enjoy and appreciate it. A big welcome celebration is about to happen here.
 

MCallanan

Semi-Pro
Marin unfortunately never thought he needed psychological sessions, at least as far as I know. He's basically tense practically in any match against any opponent of the tour level. Only when his shotmaking works so well that he feels he cannot be hurt he becomes relaxed in the match. He was tense today, too. However he's still able to play some top tennis when he's in a good form, regardless of him being tense. Probably this was the curse why he never wanted to work on his mental aspect with some professional lol. He was still good enough for certain achievements. Obviously the potential to get yet better wasn't good enough motivator to him. Perhaps his background from Herzegovina lol, those folks down there are very traditional and patriarchal, and taking some psychological sessions and excercises doesn't look too masculine lol.

With all that being said, I still think Delpo was the reason why he lost that match, not Marin.

Anyway this cup will I believe fill him with confidence for the future. He got here with the last DC match he played being losing to Querrey. In front of home crowd. On clay. Which was of course a complete choke, he was a mess. Still he was able to play two perfect matches away from home at this finals. Possibly the home pressure is stronger - domestic crowd not just wanted the 2016 win - they expected it. They demanded it. When looking through this lense, Marin's performance was top notch back then. Most of local fans here are plain stupid IMO, they don't understand tennis enough, but they are way too demanding. They don't appreciate enough what's good, but are very judgemental about what isn't. Nothing is good enough, wins are taken for granted but each loss is considered being a choke and the loser is ridiculed. IMO this cup is more than local fans actually deserved lol. However those who are true supporters shall really both enjoy and appreciate it. A big welcome celebration is about to happen here.

No doubt Del Potro was a huge factor in his losing that match. I just think Marin crumbled a bit in that fifth set and gave up on himself. And I certainly agree, far too often fans regardless of region love to say it’s a choke when really it’s not. I just thought that Marin gave up on himself late in that match.

Moving forward a lot of players have had huge seasons following Davis Cup triumphs. With Nadal, Federer and Murray not at their best this is a huge opportunity for him. Then again so was the World Tour Finals this year and he went 1-2.
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
Did he win it with a lob? Shades of Murray doing the same against Goffin in the 2015 final! :)

Congrats to Marin and Team Croatia for their country 's 1st Davis Cup title since 2005!! :cool:
Don't think it was apparent while watching, but huge attendance? 24,000 last year in this stadium on the final day. "In 2014, a record-breaking 27,448 fans watched Roger Federer lift the Davis Cup title – the biggest crowd ever to watch a tennis match."
 

Alba Barragan

Professional
I don't know where to post this, I can't find a thread about Lucas himself, so I'll post it here since it's kinda related.

Pouille posted this a few minutes ago:
Ds5HaBwXQAAA8tp.jpg


Edit: He already deleted it. Hopefully, he was drunk (?)

Edit pt.2: Not drunk, just hacked :eek::p @mods can you please delete this post, it was a false alarm :X3:

Ds5KO87WkAANvFw.jpg
 
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vive le beau jeu !

Talk Tennis Guru
I don't recognise Dodig on this picture. Is he there?

davis_cup_croatia.jpg
i think he's between -----ic and ------ic :)

I don't know where to post this, I can't find a thread about Lucas himself, so I'll post it here since it's kinda related.

Pouille posted this a few minutes ago:
Ds5HaBwXQAAA8tp.jpg


Edit: He already deleted it. Hopefully, he was drunk (?)

Edit pt.2: Not drunk, just hacked :eek::p @mods can you please delete this post, it was a false alarm :X3:

Ds5KO87WkAANvFw.jpg

hacked... maybe by those guys ? ;)

Dolj7ekXgAE37rO.jpg
 
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zalive

Hall of Fame
bravo croatia... for winning the last DC ! :)
Croatia-national-flag-croatian-country-flag.jpg_50x50.jpg

Took_the_last_cup-LG.gif

unfortunately, some soccer jerks took the pot away... :(

Bravo to Noah and the rest, they told the truth and what has to be told.
It's nothing but selling the cup to private hands...only, in current format it's not as profitable to the greedy ones.

I don't think Pique himself is anything but the mascot in this story.
 

Plamen1234

Hall of Fame
maybe they hoped for a 'leconte effect' (cf. his win over sampras in the 1991 final) but it didn't work that way... :unsure:


They should have put Simon against Cilic imo.Cilic struggles a lot with Simon - their H2H is 6-1 for Simon I believe but instead Noah decided to put Tsonga and then Pouille against Cilic - I dont understand that decision.It doesnt make sense.Anyway good for Croatia for winning the DC - they deserved it
 
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