Explanation for France's Blunder?

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
If anybody can offer any sort of inside info as to why France went with that doubles lineup, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise I'll have to assume that Clement or somebody in the command structure just decided to be, well... French!

I know I'm guilty of Monday morning quarterbacking now that the match is over, but I was cringing when they were coming out for warmups this morning. Early in the third set, I was honestly embarrassed for Gasquet - the dude just tucked tail and shut down. There's GOT to be some sort of political mess going on within the French ranks to get Gasquet paired with Benneteau for that vital match.

It's only the finals for the whole shuh-bang, these two were the bronze medal team at London (I think) while France had the team that won the silver on their bench... AND Benneteau just went to the Barclay's semi-finals last weekend with his FRENCH partner, Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

What gives?...
 

tennisaddict

Bionic Poster
Only 4 in a team. We need back up for Tsonga and Monfils in singles as they are injury prone.

Where do we fit in ERV ?
 

heninfan99

Talk Tennis Guru
They've played together before, perhaps he wanted to give Tsonga a rest. Gasquet carried them past the Aussies and Czech in both doubles and singles.

After the fact, I see I was wrong too with the line-up. Let's not forget they were playing the #2 and #4 in the world. And #4 is playing like #2 right now.

Gasquet had a terrible day but we can't forget his DC successes or at least Clement didn't:
http://youtu.be/Zj7MmhcksI4?t=4m12s
 
Injury considerations and doubles team dynamics. There were some posts here about Tsonga's elbow injury, and they likely couldn't play Monfils 3 straight days. Don't know if Monfils played any doubles with Benneteau either, or how good he is up at the net.
 

Boom-Boom

Legend
Only 4 in a team. We need back up for Tsonga and Monfils in singles as they are injury prone.

Where do we fit in ERV ?

Oh really ? Fed and Stan have back-ups ?? :mrgreen:

Tsonga defaulting dubs one hour before.
Gasquette choking.
ERV, winner of RG 2014 and WTF semi-finalist with Benneteau left out.

Clement is a disgrace!!:mad:
 

merwy

G.O.A.T.
I agree, kind of strange decision. I know Gasquet has performed well in doubles in the last DC match, but still I don't see him as a solid doubles player. Considering how important the doubles match is in a DC tie, I think they could've come up with a stranger pair. ERV/Benny would have been great.
 

Sysyphus

Talk Tennis Guru
Yeah, Gasquet didn't play too well today. I guess ERV/Benny would have been a natural choice.
But then again, Clement is in a better position than us to make an informed decision.
 

Goosehead

Legend
I was surprised gasquet was even in the dc final squad when you got doubles player Llodra around, (unless he's retired ?) and mahut is no slouch either..and roger Vaseline.

I've never been impressed with gasguet's attitude..he isn't the man for a battle..too weak n passive, he seems happy to go with the flow.
 

Boom-Boom

Legend
Yeah, Gasquet didn't play too well today. I guess ERV/Benny would have been a natural choice.
But then again, Clement is in a better position than us to make an informed decision.

Well if winning the slam on the same surface as the final and a semi at WTF isn't enough info the one can wonder what would be an informed decision :-|
 

West Coast Ace

G.O.A.T.
I was surprised gasquet was even in the dc final squad when you got doubles player Llodra around, (unless he's retired ?) and mahut is no slouch either..and roger Vaseline.
I'm with you. I believe Llodra announced his retirement at the end of the year - he may have already shut it down and gone on a carbs binge. The logical choice was the team that just played the WTF together - Benny/Roger-Vasselin.

I've never been impressed with gasguet's attitude..he isn't the man for a battle..too weak n passive, he seems happy to go with the flow.
Yep. Livin' 'The Life' - by Monday afternoon he'll be in Monaco driving his Ferrari and won't even remember this match.

To those saying play Monfils; the risk/reward was too great. If he looks bad, he loses the mojo from Friday.
 

Sysyphus

Talk Tennis Guru
Well if winning the slam on the same surface as the final and a semi at WTF isn't enough info the one can wonder what would be an informed decision :-|

I do agree that EVM would be a good choice on paper, but Clement may know things we don't.
Current physical shape can play into it – never know if someone gets a little injury or something. Also, the top players usually don't play doubles at the slams, but may still have a bigger potential when they go for it. Just look at Fed and Stan.
 

Boom-Boom

Legend
I do agree that EVM would be a good choice on paper, but Clement may know things we don't.
Current physical shape can play into it – never know if someone gets a little injury or something. Also, the top players usually don't play doubles at the slams, but may still have a bigger potential when they go for it. Just look at Fed and Stan.

Agree with you. But it's not like Gasquet is well know for double skills or mental strength...the whole Tsonga disaster (defaulting without reason one hour before) just exposed Clement's choice of players and strategy as a total disgrace. French TV was interviewing Roger-Vasselin during the match while Gasquet was spraying unforced errors headers all over the court...
 
D

Deleted member 688153

Guest
If anybody can offer any sort of inside info as to why France went with that doubles lineup, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise I'll have to assume that Clement or somebody in the command structure just decided to be, well... French!

best-organic-wines-mdnn.jpg
 

insideguy

G.O.A.T.
My explanation is they played against two guys who have 18 grand slam titles between the two of them. And a gold medal. Call me crazy but no one outside the bryan brothers or some other specialty doubles team is gonna give them a match if they are on.
 

Chanwan

G.O.A.T.
My explanation is they played against two guys who have 18 grand slam titles between the two of them. And a gold medal. Call me crazy but no one outside the bryan brothers or some other specialty doubles team is gonna give them a match if they are on.
This seems pretty accurate. That said, they've lost 4 doubles matches in a row prior to this one. Today, they seemed pretty hard to beat, but had Gasquet not been as weak as he was, the match would have been a hell of a lot closer.
 

Josh Lyman

Hall of Fame
My explanation is they played against two guys who have 18 grand slam titles between the two of them. And a gold medal. Call me crazy but no one outside the bryan brothers or some other specialty doubles team is gonna give them a match if they are on.
Rafa + Nole?
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
As long as they don't use Gasquet in any of the singles... Good Lord. The guy is the ultimate mental midget. For anybody who is not convinced, watch the KG match at W. Grrr. You do NOT want Gasquet in any crucial final with a lot of pressure. How can they not get already that Gasquet CANNOT stand pressure. Unreal decision. They should have put Monfils in the doubles too.
Seriously, Monfils is a master at getting under Fed's skin. Just putting him across the net screaming, jumping and goofing is enough to make Fed lose it.
 

cc0509

Talk Tennis Guru
As long as they don't use Gasquet in any of the singles... Good Lord. The guy is the ultimate mental midget. For anybody who is not convinced, watch the KG match at W. Grrr. You do NOT want Gasquet in any crucial final with a lot of pressure. How can they not get already that Gasquet CANNOT stand pressure. Unreal decision. They should have put Monfils in the doubles too.
Seriously, Monfils is a master at getting under Fed's skin. Just putting him across the net screaming, jumping and goofing is enough to make Fed lose it.

Yeah, because Monfils is such a killer doubles player with a killer doubles record. :rolleyes:

Gasquet is the better doubles player out of the two.
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
Yeah, because Monfils is such a killer doubles player with a killer doubles record. :rolleyes:

Gasquet is the better doubles player out of the two.



Generalities. Neither of them is good enough for Fed anyway (in doubles). So go for personality, go for agitprop with crowd. If you can't beat Fed, you have to distract him (or anger him) :twisted:

ETA: + Gasquet is the better nothing for anything that requires mental strength anyway... At least Monfils can pump up some adrenaline.
 
As long as they don't use Gasquet in any of the singles... Good Lord. The guy is the ultimate mental midget. For anybody who is not convinced, watch the KG match at W. Grrr. You do NOT want Gasquet in any crucial final with a lot of pressure. How can they not get already that Gasquet CANNOT stand pressure. Unreal decision. They should have put Monfils in the doubles too.
Seriously, Monfils is a master at getting under Fed's skin. Just putting him across the net screaming, jumping and goofing is enough to make Fed lose it.

Before the match on Friday Monfils has won 1 out of 9 matches with Beterer.

I wish all my opponents could get under my skin to that degree.

:lol:
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
The French could have won if they had put Monfils #1 of their team instead of #2.
Tsonga would have had a shot at Fed on the 1st day (much more than Gasquet!!). Monfils would have dismantled Fed on Sunday (and would have had a shot vs Wawa on Friday too).
 

cc0509

Talk Tennis Guru
The French could have won if they had put Monfils #1 of their team instead of #2.
Tsonga would have had a shot at Fed on the 1st day (much more than Gasquet!!). Monfils would have dismantled Fed on Sunday (and would have had a shot vs Wawa on Friday too).

:lol::lol:

Seriously, the delusion never seems to end with you. France was not going to win this title. Federer had a back issue and he was coming from the WTF so he needed to acclimate to clay. Monfils had a month to practice on clay and get ready for DC. Federer was horrible on the first day but improved steadily as the weekend went on. Nobody on the French team is good enough to beat even an 80% Federer and a GOATing Stan. What was Monfils' record vs Federer on clay prior to this DC? That is right, he never defeated Federer on clay. The only reason Monfils won vs Federer in that match was because he had more practice time on clay than Federer and Federer was not able to practice much for that first match after having a back problem.

Please stop creating fantasies. France lost and Switzerland won. That was the script from the beginning. Deal with it.
 

AngieB

Banned
Tsonga and Monfils have always been a mess. Both so physically-gifted, yet not strong enough to avoid frequent injuries that delay natural progression in the sport.

I don't understand why anyone thought France should be favored facing Stan and Roger. No-brainer.

#PTL #JC4Ever

AngieB​
 

roundiesee

Hall of Fame
The French could have won if they had put Monfils #1 of their team instead of #2.
Tsonga would have had a shot at Fed on the 1st day (much more than Gasquet!!). Monfils would have dismantled Fed on Sunday (and would have had a shot vs Wawa on Friday too).

Would you care to offer your services to the french team for next year? :)
 

PeteD

Legend
France had major depth for so many years. Now it seems like their window of opportunity is closing fast.
 

Flash O'Groove

Hall of Fame
#2 & #4 will beat any doubles specialists most of the time.

Not true. Federer and Stan have lost a lot of double together, but most importantly, this particular double wasn't as one sided as it look on paper. Stan and Fed had too save a lot of break points in the first two sets. Them winning the second was nearly a theft.

Gasquet was so bad, they were always targeting him, saving break point when Gasquet couldn't return a thing. I'm sure that if Benneteau could have counted on a better partner, the match would have been much closer.

Stan and Fed played great, but the french allowed them.
 

merlinpinpin

Hall of Fame
I'm with you. I believe Llodra announced his retirement at the end of the year - he may have already shut it down and gone on a carbs binge. The logical choice was the team that just played the WTF together - Benny/Roger-Vasselin.

Llodra was actually more than willing to play, he fully expected to end his career with this final. Clément just didn't select him.
 

merlinpinpin

Hall of Fame
The French could have won if they had put Monfils #1 of their team instead of #2.

I would actually be interested in knowing how they could have managed that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there seems to be this small rule in tennis that seedings are determined by way of rankings, no?
 

jhhachamp

Hall of Fame
The French could have won if they had put Monfils #1 of their team instead of #2.
Tsonga would have had a shot at Fed on the 1st day (much more than Gasquet!!). Monfils would have dismantled Fed on Sunday (and would have had a shot vs Wawa on Friday too).

There are a lot of assumptions in your post.
 

raging

Professional
There are a lot of assumptions in your post.

well, its not analysis, that for sure!:)

Don't think (in hindsight) Clement hasn''t learned from all this?
Actually a really good DC Captain and he controlled what he could.

Clement had many "uncontrollables" that jumped in his way.
Bennet was rock-solid and Monfils was pumped too but Tsonga's injury and the fact the Captain didn't gamble on a doubles player, came back to haunt him.

He was unlucky and Swiss had all the luck that RF recovered so quickly and they had the rock that was Stan the man. They had the top 2 singles players and 2 guys that like playing together. They had an Olympic gold in doubles, to prove it.

It goes that way sometimes.

What is a positive is that the French team should be even hungrier for success next year. After recovery from the pain (both mental & physical) it all restarts again next year.:)
 

Gonzalito17

Banned
France needed to win first match, Stan was too tough and set the tone of tie. Stan then was the best player in the doubles too. Gasquet played poorly in the doubles. France had their chances in first set of doubles but couldn't capitalize. All downhill from there.
 

TheMusicLover

G.O.A.T.
Having Gasquet playing the doubles was already a peculiar decision, having him play the singles against Fed the very next day, while obviously totally out-of-form, was just... incredibly stupid.
Hell, I think any of the remaining other players would have done better.

I really wonder where all that faith in Gasquette :)p good one!) comes from, and why it is still remaining up till today. The fellow must really be one of the most overrated players ever.
A typical example of a child prodigee who never managed to properly make the transition to the level of the big guys.

:lol:
 
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Looking back, the best French player in the finals, Monfils, got to play only one match. Since Tsonga was injured, could Monfils have been a better option than Gasquet or Benneteau? Don't know how good (or bad) Monfils is at doubles and at the net.
 

TheMusicLover

G.O.A.T.
Looking back, the best French player in the finals, Monfils, got to play only one match. Since Tsonga was injured, could Monfils have been a better option than Gasquet or Benneteau? Don't know how good (or bad) Monfils is at doubles and at the net.

Personally I don't think Monfils would have been a good option for the doubles. And of course he had already beaten Fed on day 1, so he wasn't in contention to replace Gasquet in his singles match against Fed.

Imho EDV was the obvious #1 candidate for the doubles alongside Benneteau, but apparently Clement didn't agree.
 

TheMusicLover

G.O.A.T.
Probably French politics as to why Gasquet played instead of Simon.

Well Simon wasn't selected for the team, bloody hell nobody understands *why*, as he was already ranked above Gasquet, and has also shown to be a tough fellow to beat for ANYONE when he's on - including Fed.

Ask Clement I daresay.
 
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