Davis Cup special: 2017, France claimed its tenth title

France had to wait for 2017 to collect its 10th Davis Cup title overall, and its first since 2001, to join Great Britain in third place on the list for most Davis Cup titles won, behind USA (32) and Australia (28). Yannick Noah claimed his third Davis Cup title as captain, having led France to victories in 1991 against the USA and in 1996 against Sweden. He is just the fourth man - after Neale Fraser, Niki Pilic and Hans Olsson - to captain a team to victory on three or more occasions since the Challenge Round was abolished in 1972.
France hosted the final at the Stade Pierre Mauroy as they did in 2014, but on a different surface: it was, in fact, the 13th title-match played on an indoor hard court. For the first time since their 5-0 win in the 2001 first round clash in Ghent, the Frenchmen faced Belgium, aiming to win 5 consecutive Davis Cup ties for just the 3rd time in its history: it also won 5 straight ties in 1953 and in 1989-90. The Bleus led 4-3 in the previous meetings in a rivalry that began in 1904 when Belgium won 3-2 to advance to the Challenge Round, where it lost to the British Isles.
Both nations named unchanged teams from their semifinal victories against Serbia and Australia respectively. A total of 8 players have competed for Noah’s French team this year, all of whom have won at least one live rubber in the competition, an unprecedented record.
With 25,185 fans drumming up a deafening atmosphere inside the colossal stadium, David Goffin ended a run of three defeats against Lucas Pouille, the only Frenchman to have lost a live rubber that year, to Dusan Lajovic in the first clash of the semifinal tie against Serbia. Goffin completed a 75 63 61 win and gave Belgium the best possible start. The Belgian No.1 claimed his 20th victory in Davis Cup singles rubber, the 16th in his last 17 matches (his only loss in that time came to Great Britain’s Andy Murray in 2015 final).
"The pressure was on my shoulders, but I was ready to fight," Goffin said, the Davis Cup official website reported. "I came here with a lot of confidence so I used it. I said before the match the key was just to play good tennis, be focussed on every point and be relaxed in what I have to do."
Goffin capitalized on two Pouille forehand errors and two successive net cords to complete the opening break of the match to move 6-5 up in the first set. He seized his opportunity and served out the set to love. The Belgian No. 1 tightened his grip as he broke twice to seal the second set, then he quickly crafted a 3-0 lead in the third. With a gorgeous backhand winner, Goffin moved 5-1 up and soon after he converted the match point with a huge crosscourt forehand winner.
"He was playing really well at the beginning of the match, but as soon as I broke him in the first set I felt there was something better in my body," revealed Goffin. "I felt a lot more relaxed. After that, I didn’t miss a lot of balls."
In the clash between the most successful active players of both nations, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overpowered Steve Darcis 63 62 61 to give home fans renewed optimism. Tsonga reached his 27th total victory and the 21st success in singles against the Belgian, who is in joint-5th place on the all-time list for most total Davis Cup match-wins among his compatriots.
Darcis never looked likely to produce the kind of majestic upset he usually offered in the competition. Tsonga’s power made the difference and the clash developed as a one-way traffic.
"It was important to [get back to] one-all," said Tsonga. "It’s never easy when your guy lost the first point, you’re a little bit disappointed for him, for the team, and it’s tough to go on court but today I did a job, that’s most important. It’s one-all now and everything can happen. We have to remain focused on our goal, which is to win this tie, and not only win one match."
Yannick Noah surprisingly dropped his most successful doubles team, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, bidding to record their fourth Davis Cup victory in five rubbers played. The captain decided to trust in Richard Gasquet as Herbert's partner against Joris De Loore and Ruben Bemelmans, who had contested five doubles rubbers since 2015 final and came to the match owning a 7-7 record in Davis Cup doubles rubbers.
Gasquet and Herbert, playing together for the first time in a competitive match, claimed a crucial 61 36 76(2) 64 win to bring France 2-1 ahead. "We didn’t know what to expect but we stayed together from the beginning to the end. We got the win and we're so happy," said Herbert who, like every fan in the Stade Pierre Mauroy, felt worried when Belgium served for a 2-1 lead at 5-3 in the second set. But they saved Noah, in the end.
Belgium had a mountain to climb, knowing there have been no more than eight comebacks from 1-2 down in the Davis Cup Final. However, they could rely on the consideration that France had also surrendered 2-1 leads on two occasions, in 2002, when it lost to Russia in Paris, and 2010, when it lost to Serbia in Belgrade.
David Goffin, who went 6-0 in Davis Cup rubbers in 2016 and improved his overall singles record in the competition to a mightily impressive 21-3, produced another sublime display to beat Tsonga 76(5) 63 62 in two hours and 44 minutes, after saving six break points in the opening set. In the tiebreak that followed, he came back from 1-3 to 6-5 and drilled a backhand down the line to convert the set point. Tsonga had treatment on his neck at the end of the first set and looked deflated for the rest of the match.
For the fifth time in the last eight years, the 24th in total, the Davis Cup final was decided in a live fifth rubber. Pouille, facing an opponent who had won all five of his previous appearances in decisive fifth rubbers, proved the hero of the final. He beat the “Shark” Darcis 63 61 60 to seal the triumph. “What a grand finale,” said captain Noah. “To have Lucas playing in his hometown and winning the last game in Davis Cup, playing the way he played… it’s so beautiful.”
“I’m so emotional right now,” said Pouille in the immediate aftermath. “To play in front of this crowd, in front of my family, my friends… it’s a feeling from another world.”
France ended a streak of four straight victories for the away team in a Davis Cup Final, becoming the first team to win the title on home soil since the Czech Republic in 2012. Belgium lost its third final and joined India and Romania at the top of the list for most appearances in the Davis Cup title-match without ever lifting up the trophy.
Noah became just the fourth man to captain a team to victory on three or more occasions since the Challenge Round was abolished in 1972. Neale Fraser (who captained Australia to victory in 1973, 1977, 1983 and 1986), Niki Pilic (who captained Germany to victory in 1988, 1989 and 1993, and Croatia to victory in 2005) and Hans Olsson (who captained Sweden to victory in 1984, 1985 and 1987) are the only other Davis Cup captains to have won three or more titles in this time.
"French people were waiting for more than 15 years for this,” said Mahut. “That’s a long time with the team we have, with so many good players. Year after year we were losing and, finally we have [the title]. For me, it’s a special week and we need time to really appreciate the moment."
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