FRANCE: TENNIS: DAVIS CUP: THE FRENCH TEAM GIVES A PRESS CONFERENCE AHEAD OF PLAYING AGAINST THE AMERICANS IN THE SEMI-FINAL

Record ID: 647653

  • Title: FRANCE: TENNIS: DAVIS CUP: THE FRENCH TEAM GIVES A PRESS CONFERENCE AHEAD OF PLAYING AGAINST THE AMERICANS IN THE SEMI-FINAL
  • Date: 12th September 2002
  • Summary: VERSAILLES, FRANCE (12 SEPTEMBER 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. PAUL HENRI MATHIEU, FABRICE SANTORO,GUY FORGET AND NICOLAS ESCUDE ON STAGE (VARIOUS) 2. AUDIENCE LISTENING 3. (SOUNDBITE) (FRENCH) GUY FORGET SAYING: "I think the selection makes sense, I think I would have done the same if I were Patrick McEnroe. These are two very dangerous, all-round players, all the boys here know them from playing against them, and its true that if they want to stand out they'll have to play great matches. That's why we've come here early to train on clay, to put all the chances on our side. At the ranking level, I believe they are on the same level as us, at the results level it's the same." 4. (SOUNDBITE) (FRENCH) GUY FORGET SAYING: "It's not a new way of functioning. Every time I proceed on the same criterions, namely the results of the players, and their form at the time. If we're talking about their form I think that for example Nicolas who is sitting next to me, he hasn't played at all since Wimbledon and he has been suffering from a rather significant injury that we had to deal with urgently, that was his stomach muscles. So I couldn't fit him within the foursome. "Now Sebastien, Fabrice and Arnaud I would say it made much more sense, that was unquestionable. Micheal played a great double in Paux, they've played with Fabrice a few tournaments, I've seen them play at the US open, it looked really good. And then who were the boys who could claim to play singles at a good level, apart from these three boys I've just mentioned? Maybe Paul Henri would be the only other one. I think Paul Henri has, within the last few months shown the greatest hope, with undeniable victories on high level players, he's got a very good attitude when playing a match, and when we look back on the past Davis Cups we can see that very often it is the attitude that made a difference. The attitude of the lads here, so I think it was time to have Paul Henri join us." 5. CLOSE UP OF PAUL HENRI MATHIEU 6. PHOTOGRAPHERS 7. GUY FORGET AND PLAYERS LEAVING STAGE 8. MICHAEL LLODRA, SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN AND ARNAUD CLEMENT ON STAGE 9. WIDE OF AUDIENCE AND STAGE 10. (SOUNDBITE) (FRENCH) SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN SAYING: "(the american team) is very talented, I think it's the new generation, they will be determined to prove that they are able to play without Agassi and Sampras so they'll be really motivated, so I haven't got any regrets that Agassi and Sampras aren't coming" 11. JOURNALISTS TAKING NOTES 12. GUY FORGET IN GARDEN BEING INTERVIEWED 13. (SOUNDBITE) (FRENCH) GUY FORGET SAYING: "What I think of the American players is that despite the absence of Pete Sampras, Roddick and Blake are very good players on clay if not better, and that we will have to play our best tennis to impose ourselves upon them. So we've come to train in the suburbs of Paris much earlier than the Americans to try to get a small advantage on this level. Now it's on the tennis ground that we'll have to make our marks, on the very day, Friday. I am convinced the encounter will be difficult and that all the matches will be very tight until the Sunday night." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 27th September 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: VERSAILLES, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA6BY58OD1Z3Z31K93JZ0PR2A6L
  • Story Text: The French tennis team that will confront the Americans
    in the upcoming semi-final of the Davis Cup have given a press
    conference in the outskirts of Paris.



    The French Davis Cup team, headed by captain Guy
    Forget, have already started training ahead of their
    semi-final match against the United States at Roland Garros on
    September 20.

    The defending Davis Cup champions will face an American
    team deprived of stars Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, but made
    up of a strong team of upcoming, brilliant youngsters.

    "I think the selection makes sense, I think I would have
    done the same if I were Patrick McEnroe. These are two very
    dangerous, all-round players, all the boys here know them from
    playing against them, and its true that if they want to stand
    out they'll have to play great matches. That's why we've come
    here early to train on clay, to put all the chances on our
    side. At the ranking level, I believe they are on the same
    level as us, at the results level it's the same", said Guy
    Forget, whose roster is composed of Sebastien Grosjean,
    Fabrice Santoro, Arnaud Clement and MIchael LLodra.

    Grosjean and Santoro are ranked 20th and 38th respectively
    in the ATP champions Race, Clement, the runner-up at the 2001
    Australian Open, is 45th and Llodra, 85th in the Champions
    Race, only made his Davis Cup debut against the Czech Republic
    in a quarter-final tie last April.

    As substitutes, Forget chose Nicolas Escude and Paul-Henri
    Matthieu. Matthieu, who only turns 20 in December, comes into
    the squad for the first time as Forget searches for new blood.

    Last month he reached the last eight at Long Island, knocking
    out newly-crowned US Open champion Pete Sampras along the way.

    Escude, 26, helped the French to victory last year over
    Australia in Melbourne but has this season been hampered by an
    abdominal injury which forced him to miss the US Open.

    The match between France and the US will be played on the
    clay courts of Roland Garros stadium, the home of the French
    Open.

    The American captain Patrick McEnroe's team will be
    composed of Andy Roddick, James Blake, Todd Martin and Mardy
    Fish. The two countries met in Roland Garros in the Davis Cup
    final in 1932. "The French Musketeers" - Henri Cochet, Jacques
    Borotra, Henri Lacoste and Jacques Brugnon- defeated the
    United States on that occasion.

    Under the captaincy of Yannick Noah, France also beat the
    US when the two countries last clashed in a Davis Cup final,
    on clay but indoor, in Lyon, in 1991.


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