France and Belgium have announced their nominations for the Davis Cup Final, which will take place at the Stade Pierre Maauroy in Lille on 24-26 November 2017. France and Belgium will meet for the first time since 2001.
French captain Yannick Noah has nominated jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Lucas Pouille for the singles and Pierre Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut for the doubles match. The French doubles team is playing at the ATP Finals this week.
Tsonga won four titles in 2017 in Rotterdam, Marseille, Lyon and Antwerp and won two singles matches against Laslo Djere and Dusan Lajovic in the semifinal against Serbia. Lucas Pouille won three singles titles on three different distances in Budapest (clay), Stuttgart (grass) and Vienna (indoor hard-court).
This year’s Paris Bercy Masters 1000 semifinalist Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet (three-time quarter finalist last October in Tokyo, Shanghai, Vienna) have been chosen as alternates.
France has won the Davis Cup nine times but has not lifted this trophy since its most recent triumph in 2001 against Australia.
Belgian captain Johan Van Herck has nominated David Goffin, Steve Darcis, Ruben bemelmans and Arthur De Greef. Goffin has qualified for this week’s ATP Finals in London, where he beat Rafa Nadal in three sets but lost to Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets. He played in 2015 Davis Cup final, where Belgium lost to a strong British team led by Andy Murray.
Darcis won the decisive fifth rubber against Australia in the Davis Cup semifinal last September living up to his reputation as Davis Cup specialist. Last February he beat Phillip Kohlschreiber and Sasha Zverev in Frankfurt last February. He played his last competitive match in Antwerp to have enough time to recover from injury problems.
Belgium will play in its second final in the past three years. They are bidding to win thei first title at this event after reaching the final in 1904 and 2015. They have not won a Davis Cup tie against France on French soil since 1952, when they won 3-2 on clay at Roland Garros.
