Tebbutt: Just as planned

Both captains claimed that what transpired in the opening singles of the Canada – France Davis Cup tie was just as expected following a day when the results were Jo-Wifried Tsonga 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 over Vasek Pospisil and Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 over Julien Benneteau.

“The two best players won,” said French captain Guy Forget. “Both players deserved their wins, and that’s the way it is.”

Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau could just as easily have said that about the two team’s No. 1 players. In fact he did – just using different words.

Tsonga, ranked No. 6, simply overwhelmed Pospisil, ranked No. 115. “I played a guy who’s ranked No. 6 in the world and played very well, even by his standards,” Pospisil said about Tsonga. “That’s tough to play against.”

(Photo: Kyle Clapham)

While acknowledging Tsonga's clear superiority on the day, Pospisil was disappointed in his own serving, something that possibly could have changed the match if Tsonga hadn’t made a spectacular get to save a break point in the fourth game of the second set.

Benneteau was just about as complimentary to Raonic. When I asked him what the level was of the player he faced in the second singles on Friday, he pointed out that Raonic was No. 25 but had missed four or five months last year because on his (hip) injury and would probably be ranked quite a bit higher.

It was a really impressive performance by Raonic against a world No. 35 who has been showing good form of late, including beating his compatriot, world No. 12 Gilles Simon, at the Australian Open.

Raonic broke serve in the opening game of the match and kept the heat on the rest of the way.

(Photo: Kyle Clapham)

It clearly did not please Raonic that he had lost to Benneteau in his last match of the 2012 season at the Masters 1000 indoors in Paris in November. Benneteau had remarked at the time that Raonic would have to improve his return of serve. When asked how he had been better at returning serve on Friday, Raonic was very blunt in his response: “I’m eager. I’m hungry. I want to improve. I want to be one of the best and I did the work.”

Aside from great serving – 24 aces and facing just two breaks points that were each dismissed with aces – Raonic showed excellent composure on the court.

“Our job is just to stay in the moment,” he said about playing in a Davis Cup atmosphere. “I kept a really good flat-line the whole match, not only with my physical but with my mental. I think that’s what really paid off in the end.”

It was Raonic near or at his best, as it was with Tsonga. I thought it was interesting that Tsonga said after the match that he had cut back on some tournaments – including missing the Montpellier event in his homeland last week – because he really thinks that the French team has a shot at winning the Davis Cup this year.
With the first day’s results in the books, all thoughts turned to what might transpire over the next two days.

Vasek Pospisil was thought to be the obvious choice for doubles with Daniel Nestor on Saturday but there could be a couple of factors that could change that. One is that he had some treatment on his right shoulder during the match against Tsonga and captain Laurendeau admitted that will be among the factors considered when the Canadian team brainstorms Friday night and Saturday morning about whether it is Pospisil or Raonic who takes to the court with Nestor.

The fact that Raonic played so well in his opening match may have put him back into serious consideration for the doubles. One of the French journalists came up to me after Milos beat Benneteau and was convinced that he would be picked to replace Pospisil because his level of play seemed so much higher than Pospisil’s in the singles.

The French team could also have a choice to make. Forget, like Laurendeau, said they would do some thinking overnight. The only alternative for them would be to put Tsonga in doubles instead of Benneteau alongside stalwart Michael Llodra.

At his post-match media conference, Benneteau spoke as though he would definitely be playing the doubles, and that was with Forget seated right beside him.
Tsonga and Llodra have not played together often but they did in last year’s semifinals on clay against the Spanish and absolutely demolished Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco by a 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 score. That was the French team’s last tie and so it might be hard for Forget not to ride a hot hand and put them in against whoever plays for Canada.

It is obviously extremely important to be ahead 2-1 going into Sunday’s singles – so a Raonic and/or Tsonga substitution for the doubles is a possibility.
Looking further ahead, Forget pretty well assured that Monfils will be ready for the fifth match on Sunday, if the tie is still alive, and that would almost surely be against Pospisil.

Monfils was out practicing after Friday’s matches ended and his availability gives the French team a flexibility that Canada does not have – with Monfils ranked No. 13 to No. 178 for Frank Dancevic.

Whatever happens, the possibility of a Tsonga – Raonic fourth match is very appetizing, especially based on their impressive form on Friday.

A final note about the crowd at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre: the French supporters, only about 60 of them, have known to punch above their weight class but they had no chance on Friday against enthusiastic Canadian fans cheering to the beat of a marching band that started outside the arena before the matches and moved inside to provide the beat for pro-Canada supporters.

I had watched a bit of the USA – Swiss match earlier in the day, and I thought that the Canadian crowd was very fair (just like the Swiss), mainly because there was almost always quiet when the points were about to begin and then silence during the rallies.

Regarding that USA – Switzerland tie, with the Americans leading 2-0 after day one – the French were talking about it a lot in their media conferences. That could be partly because a number of them – including Tsonga and Monfils – are Swiss residents for tax purposes.

Captain Guy Forget, as did other French team members, expressed surprise at the fact that the Swiss chose to play at 600 metres altitude in Fribourg, which makes the ball fly and certainly favoured the big-serving game of John Isner, who upset Roger Federer. Forget said he had mentioned to friends weeks ago that he thought it was a strange decision, and Tsonga said the same. But Forget cautioned that the tie is far from over.

Much like Canada – France and the vendor below who was selling items that would appeal to both Canadian and French fans, it is hard to tell which direction the tie will go.

PELIWO IN THE HOUSE

Australian Open junior boys runner-up Filip Peliwo of Vancouver was around before the matches began on Friday – even getting into a little doubles practice alongside Daniel Nestor (above).

Peliwo, who turned 18 last week, said that the only junior events he intends to play from now on would be the three remaining Grand Slams in 2012, plus a few warm-ups to prepare.

His immediate plans are to go to Texas the week after next for two ITF Futures events before returning to Quebec for three more Futures events.

Nestor razzed him a lot during the doubles and I told Filip not to worry about it because Daniel does it to everyone. Filip replied he knew that because he had warmed up Nestor during last year’s US Open.