2023-11-09 16:43:54
The end of your stay in Seville may be a little long and the charms of Andalusia in autumn already have a very bitter taste. Without even having to step onto the central court of the Cartuja stadium again, the Blues are already eliminated from the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly Fed Cup).
Italy’s easy victory over Germany on Thursday sealed the fate of France, who was hanging by a thin rope after the defeat against Italy on Wednesday. The Transalpines will be in the last four on Saturday and the others at home.
Friday morning, French and German women will compete for butter in an arena which already sounds very hollow during high-stakes matches. Hello, the atmosphere and the interest of an event in an artificial coma despite the record total prize pool of 9 million euros put forward by the ITF (international federation). Money doesn’t buy everything. Neither popular support nor sporting interest…
Like French tennis that has been going in reverse for months, the players and their captain have completely missed out on the competition. Caroline Garcia has lost track this season, Alizé Cornet is logically out of breath and Julien Benneteau’s choices raise questions.
One of the applicants declared for the vacant Davis Cup chair after having seen himself for a time as DTN or director of Bercy has no regrets. “If I had to do it again, I would do the same thing,” he explained, straight in his certainties, after the Italian setback to cut short the debate on the tenure of Cornet in place of the Russian Varvara Gracheva (n° 44 world and No. 2 blue-white-red), naturalized last spring and summoned for the first time to the national team.
The former world No. 25 (ten finals and zero titles), who took advantage of the Mladenovic-Garcia improvement to lead France to the Fed Cup title in 2019, will not have the opportunity to rectify the situation. A sad end to the season which corresponds quite well to the state of the blue house, leaning against an increasingly steep hill on the court and internally.
Behind the scenes, things aren’t much better
On the sporting side, beyond a few flashes in the ATP 250 (the veterans Gasquet in Auckland, Monfils in Stockholm, Mannarino in Newport and Astana and the promising Fils in Lyon) and a WTA 125 (Diane Parry in Paris), the French have especially shone in Challengers tournaments, the second division of the circuit. Each Grand Slam or Masters 1000 that passes continues to post a record of absenteeism from the first rounds.
In the Davis Cup, under the leadership of Sébastien Grosjean (who has since left to coach Fils), the Tricolores have never managed to reach the final phase over the last three years. Their biggest feat remains a play-off won in Pau against the modest Ecuadorians in March 2022.
We must pray for the return to form of a Humbert, the advent of a Van Assche, the progression of a Debru or the resurrection of a Garcia who, barely a year ago, lifted the Masters trophy and was ranked 4th in the world…
Behind the scenes, things are not going much better with an increasingly authoritarian president who has decided to play all issues in singles (appointment of the Davis Cup captain, shelving of the DTN, relocation of the Rolex Paris Masters, renegotiation of rights for French radios…).
One year before the elections at the head of the FFT, Gilles Moretton even made his elected officials sign a confidentiality clause (a first which raised eyebrows among some) to try to prevent some stories from coming out of the locker room. It’s not just the end of your stay in Seville that may be long…
#Tennis #Billie #Jean #King #Cup #pale #Blues