TENNIS – Roger Federer sealed the first Swiss Davis Cup triumph with a 6-4 6-2 6-2 in one hour and 42 minutes win over Richard Gasquet who replaced injured Jo Wilfred Tsonga in the first reverse rubber match at the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille in front of 27.448 spectators, which broke a new world record attendance for a tennis match. Federer won a one-sided match where he did not face any break point chances. Diego Sampaolo
Twenty-two years after their first final against the USA in Fort Worth where a star-studded US team beat Switzerland 3-1, the red-crossed team has become the 14th country to clinch the Davis Cup Trophy in the 115-year-old history of this event.
Roger Federer has finally fulfilled his dream to lift the Davis Cup Trophy, one of the very few titles missing from his trophy cabinet
Federer led 12-2 in his previous head-to-head matches against Gasquet. The Frenchman won their only previous two matches on clay but this time Federer was unstoppable. He was in full control of the match from the first set against Richard Gasquet who replaced Jo Wilfred Tsonga who was sidelined by an elbow injury.
Gasquet held serve to 15 in the first game. Federer won the second game to 15 on his serve before breaking serve for the first time in the match in the third game of the opening set for 2-1 with a half-volley forehand winner and a forehand passing shot.The Swiss Maestro rallied from 0-30 to back up the break in the next game. Gasquet saved one break point at 2-4 30-40 with two backhand volleys. In the seventh game Federer recovered from 0-40 on Gasquet’s serve and earned a break point chance but the Frenchman managed to hold his serve. Gasquet saved three set points at 3-5 15-40 but Federer wrapped the first set with 6-4 on the next game. He held three consecutive serves to love and won 21 of his 25 service points. In the whole first set Federer dropped just four points on his serve.
Federer broke serve in the opening game of the second set as Gasquet hit a backhand into the net. Federer made two forehand unforced errors to trail 15-30 but he saved it with his serve before taking another break in the seventh game. Federer hit a backhand return to take a 0-30 lead on Gasquet’s return before bringing up three break points with his forehand. Gasquet saved the first but Federer converted on his second opportunity. Federer served for the second set at 5-2. He hit two aces before closing it out on his first set point with a spectacular backhand drop-shot.
Gasquet saved four break point chances at the start of the third set. Federer did not face any break point chances and got two breaks for 3-2 and 5-2. He held serve to love before sealing the win with a drop-shot on the first match point. He fell on his knees before hugging Swiss Captain Severin Luthi and Stan Wawrinka, Michael Lammer and Marco Chiudinelli.
Federer, who made his debut in the Davis Cup in 1999, helped Switzerland reach the semifinal in 2003 when the red-crossed team lost to Australia.
Federer scored the 73th win in 85 singles matches this year. He lost the second singles against Gael Monfils in his first match since he was sidelined by a back injury which forced hime to withdraw from the ATP Finals title match against Novak Djokovic. Yesterday Federer teamed up with Stan Wawrinka to put Switzerland into a 2-1 lead with a straight-set win in the doubles over Richard Gasquet and Julien Benneteau.
“I have been playing in this competition for almost 15 years and I have never been as close as in the past weekend. I am happy that I was able to stay calm and play a good match. I am really happy for the guys in the team. Everybody worked incredibly hard to get me match ready. Stan has put in so much effort over the years and played an unbelievable weekend that gave me the opportunity today. I am very much aware of that. This is one for the boys. It’s not for me. I have already won enough in my career and did not need to tick any empty boxes. I am just happy for everybody else. I am happy we could live a great historic moment in our country. I am happy with the way I played. I expected Jo on the other side of the net but I was able understand the change and I had one hour to get ready. I played aggressive tennis and it paid off. It’s been a long week, but one of the best weeks we have had overall as a team.Many team members have been on the team for almost 10 years, so we know each other very well”, said Federer.
Federer was asked to describe the difference between winning the Davis Cup and the Grand Slams and the Olympics.
“Everything feels a bit slightly different but at the end it’s a tennis match. You feel great emotions and you are unbelievably happy and relieved. We wanted incredibly badly, especially being up 2-1. Seeing Stan out there and rest of the team supporting me, I pushed extra. It was one of the best feelings in my career. It is so much nicer to celebrate it all together. It’s an amazing day for sports in our country. We are a small country. We don’t win big events every other week. I hope it can create great things for the future and inspire a generation and other people to inspire into sport. We have a fantastic team and that’s something that people see and appreciate.
“It’s an exceptional year for me. I have been dreaming the Davis Cup for years. I have been trying everything to win it. With Severin, with Roger, with Marco and Michael we have had many experiences together during the past years. This was the ideal year. It started off well in Serbia and it ends up well here in France”, said Wawrinka.
French captain Arnaud Clement expressed his disappointment after the 3-1 defeat but admitted that the home team did their best this weekend.
“I believe we tried everything. We did everything well, especially in the preparation for the matches, in the way we approached the final.We have preparing for it for weeks. However, I need to be better in the future. For the time being the first feeling is that Switzerland was better than we were during the whole weekend. I decided yesterday that Richard Gasquet would be playing today. Jo felt pain in his arm. On Saturday morning he made a test to see if he was able to play the doubles. It was not the case”, said Clement
