France vs. Czech Republic :::Davis Cup March 6-8

[oranges]

Czech Republic - France: 1:1 after day 1

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

Vive: though match for Marcos... pulled a win but walked a mile! or two!

Marcos BAGHDATIS (CYP) 6 7 6
Rui MACHADO (POR) 3 5 4

thx for the update !

 

[Tennis360]

Allez Les bleus....hope they win this tie...good luck to Richard and Mika in doubles

 

[Leublu tennis]

Jan Hernych took Djokovic to 3 sets in Dubai last week, but what has Lukas Dlouhy done lately?

Oh, lets see. How about finals in Rotterdam and semis at the AO? Dlouhy is one of the best doubles players in the world right now, ranked #10. By comparison, the better known Llodra is #30 and Gasquet #92.

 

[Cloudy]

Richie only plays doubs once in a blue moon and he is a good player but what concerns me is how well they will play together.

 

[Cloudy]

anyone got a livestream?

 

[seffina]

http://www.justin.tv/abdel55

 

[Fedace]

Some good doubles match going on right now. anyone have a link to the live stream ?

 

[Fedace]

http://www.justin.tv/abdel55

Very difficult to see the ball and it is freezing constantly...

 

[Zaragoza]

The czechs won in 4 sets, they lead the tie 2-1. France needs to win both singles tomorrow: Berdych-Tsonga and Stepanek-Simon.

 

[Cloudy]

Can they swap Simon tomorrow? If so I wouldn't be surprised if they played Gasquet instead. I hope they don't though.

 

[oranges]

Very difficult to see the ball and it is freezing constantly...

Thank you for giving me a link for what's available is not in your vocabulary?

Grrr, I'd say Jo will clinch his rubber, but Simon-Stepanek is a question. Might be the only time I'll root for Gilles.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

The czechs won in 4 sets, they lead the tie 2-1. France needs to win both singles tomorrow: Berdych-Tsonga and Stepanek-Simon.

Can they swap Simon tomorrow? If so I wouldn't be surprised if they played Gasquet instead. I hope they don't though.

and worm-simon will be played first on sunday... a lot of pressure on simon's shoulders !
would be nice to see tsonga clinch the victory in the last match...

 

[Love Game]

what's happening?
is this in france?

 

[Giggs The Red Devil]

France should have gone with Gasquet, but I still think Simon can pull it off.

 

[Fedace]

Is there a Live stream for this ?

 

[Retra]

Is there a Live stream for this ?

http://es.justin.tv/anti_ol

http://es.justin.tv/koh_lanta

 

[Zaragoza]

I hadn't seen the poll before, I can't believe 90% picked France to win. Berdych and Stepanek are tough to beat on indoor hardcourts.
I didn't have a favourite to win this tie.

 

[Love Game]

wow
radek is walking all over gilles
nooooooooo ............ up 2 sets to love

radek is playing some excellent tennis again.
guess he's putting indian wells on notice.

 

[Underhand]

The Worm eats The Chicken? What's goin' on there?

 

[Love Game]

well, he does have a big mouth . . .

_________________
who is mullet man?
his face looks somehow familiar

 

[Love Game]

oh. my. gosh.
gilles had radek love 40 for the break
but could not convert.
back and forth
and ... eventually it was radek w/the fist pump!
painful for simon's countrymen to watch...

 

[Underhand]

who is mullet man?
his face looks somehow familiar

He's Navratil the Czech captain with classic Eastern European mullet (sometimes called Bundesliga hairdo).

 

[Love Game]

well at least gilles held his serve 3-4.
his net play elicited fantastic
but failing effort from radek .......

 

[Love Game]

He's Navratil the Czech captain with classic Eastern European mullet (sometimes called Bundesliga hairdo).

i have no idea why that made me laugh.
dare i ask? is bundesliga a soccer team?

 

[Underhand]

i have no idea why that made me laugh.
dare i ask? is bundesliga a soccer team?

Bundesliga is the German Soccer League. In the 90s lot of players had mullet.

 

[l_gonzalez]

Simon is gonna serve for the 3rd set...

 

[Love Game]

^^^ thanks!

------------------

amazing the happiness on the french bench
allez simon ...... gilles finally breaks radek's serve for the first time in the match. 5-4 in the third.

 

[l_gonzalez]

Simon couldn't serve it out. 5-5 it is...

 

[Underhand]

The Worm breaks back. Reeshard eats all his nails.

 

[l_gonzalez]

I would have thought Monfils would be a better match-up for Radek...

 

[Love Game]

he's not nervous or anything
watching radek break back!!!!
on serve once more with
the radek stepanek marching band!

3rd set tiebreak

 

[l_gonzalez]

tie-break it is, then.

 

[Zaragoza]

Stepanek is worming up (getting ready for the worm dance).

 

[l_gonzalez]

oh dear, 6 MP's for Radek.

 

[Underhand]

And The Worm does the worm!

 

[Zaragoza]

The Frech media is going to crucify Forget in the next days.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

Stepanek is worming up (getting ready for the worm dance).

good one !

well played stepanek (despite the haircut of his captain)... too bad we won't have the decisive best-of-5 match between tsonga and berdych. :?
tough DC baptism for simon...

 

[WillAlwaysLoveYouTennis]

I believe I voted France as winner in this series, based on play of the French players over the past couple of months, but I was really surprised in a great way how well Berdych played over all. And of course, Radek can always be a threat especially when knocked a bit. I think it just gives him extra fuel LOL

And Zaragoza is so correct, the French media is going to truly crucifix Forget over his choices.

PS The mullet never looked good. Not from Billy Ray Cyrus to all the the guys (and girls aka Martina Navratilova) who sported it. Its unfortunate so many guys still are keeping it these days, rather like that bowl cut some of the Russians still insist on getting.

 

[Cloudy]

Gilles was not good this weekend. Bet he will be gutted. Very tough coming in to your first DC as number 1 player.

 

[PERL]

Monfils should have played instead of Simon. Gasquet does not warrant a spot based on form.

I agree but it would have been a bit harsh not to give a second chance to Simon after his first loss and take him off the team. Forget will need him later. It is a longer term reasoning and it costs the match maybe.
Anyway the french team was too inexperienced to win the DC this year. They have the potential to win in a couple of years. Berdych was the best czech player imo this weekend. Stepanek was ok but Simon would have had a good chance had he played his A-game, too many errors on the forehand side, not comfortable at the net, mediocre serve… I wish him to mentally recover now, the DC can be cruel for newcomers (remember PHM).

 

[Love Game]

that was quite something.
stepanek/czech republic in straights today.
AFTER he congratulated the french team,
hugged everybody on his team,
THEN, as his fans were demanding, he did the worm.

 

[Love Game]

The Frech media is going to crucify Forget in the next days.

Oh dear. Why can't everybody win?

 

[Cloudy]

Monfils should have played instead of Simon. Gasquet does not warrant a spot based on form.

who else were they going to play in the doubs?

Tsonga playing 3 matches?

Gael didn't turn up to the practices until friday, Forget had no other choice.

 

[Fedace]

Ok so who is playing the 5th rubber ?

 

[Cloudy]

Ok so who is playing the 5th rubber ?

Tsonga

Hernych.

can't find a stream for it though

 

[Fedace]

Why is Simon such a choker ?? too much money too soon perhaps ?

 

[iriraz]

who else were they going to play in the doubs?

Tsonga playing 3 matches?

Gael didn't turn up to the practices until friday, Forget had no other choice.

A better choice would have been to pick Clement for the doubles instead of Gasquet

 

[PERL]

who else were they going to play in the doubs?

Tsonga playing 3 matches?

Gael didn't turn up to the practices until friday, Forget had no other choice.

He meant Gasquet does not warrant a spot in singles I guess. The doubles team was the best choice available unless you take Clement along with Llodra and take off Gasquet or Monfils from the tie, something hard to do.
Monfils was ready to play on Sunday. Lack of choice should never be a problem actually, enough good singles players in the team and in France at the moment.

 

[random guy]

Amazing that Czech Rep has won the tie with just two players.