French Davis Cup team in turmoil before tie
The French Davis Cup team that will play Austria this coming weekend in Vienna has fallen into bit of turmoil, with top player Gilles Simon telling L'Equipe that he doesn’t see eye to eye with captain Guy Forget. L'Equipe says that Simon is still upset that he wasn’t called on to play the deciding rubber in France’s final round loss to Serbia last December, and doesn’t believe that Forget understands his counterpuncher's game.
"Guy has a vision for action and I play more in response," Simon said. "Guy was an attacker. He won the Davis Cup by attacking. So that's his perception of the game and I respect that, but it does not stick at all to my game." Simon added that Forget has different rules for various players on the team.
Former Davis Cup captain Patrice Dominguez told L'Equipe that “Guy is weakened…The trust did not exist. There is a problem with Forget with this generation, he did not know that before. Guy was a player of the older generation. He's therefore very close to [Arnuad] Clement and [Michael] Llodra. With them, he understood everything. In this case, there was less dialogue. With [Jo-Wilfried] Tsonga, Simon, [Richard] Gasquet and [Gael] Monfils, there are many misunderstandings."
Simon later lashed out the newspaper, saying the publication of the interview, which was done in Australia, was ill timed to coincide with Davis Cup week.
France is already without the injured Monfils, Tsonga and Gasquet. "We need to talk together, but this must remain between us," said Julien Benneteau, who is supposed to play doubles with Michael Llodra.—Matthew Cronin
"Guy has a vision for action and I play more in response," Simon said. "Guy was an attacker. He won the Davis Cup by attacking. So that's his perception of the game and I respect that, but it does not stick at all to my game." Simon added that Forget has different rules for various players on the team.
Former Davis Cup captain Patrice Dominguez told L'Equipe that “Guy is weakened…The trust did not exist. There is a problem with Forget with this generation, he did not know that before. Guy was a player of the older generation. He's therefore very close to [Arnuad] Clement and [Michael] Llodra. With them, he understood everything. In this case, there was less dialogue. With [Jo-Wilfried] Tsonga, Simon, [Richard] Gasquet and [Gael] Monfils, there are many misunderstandings."
Simon later lashed out the newspaper, saying the publication of the interview, which was done in Australia, was ill timed to coincide with Davis Cup week.
France is already without the injured Monfils, Tsonga and Gasquet. "We need to talk together, but this must remain between us," said Julien Benneteau, who is supposed to play doubles with Michael Llodra.—Matthew Cronin
