Davis Cup days

Davis Cup has always a very special atmosphere. The players don't play for themselves for once, but for the country on the back of their shirts. The audience hasn't come to see one player, but to support the whole team of a country. This all adds to that special Davis Cup feeling.

I've been 2 times before to a Davis Cup tie of France, both in 2015 and both were in Europe. This was my first overseas Davis Cup visit. Unfortunately my favourite was not in the team, and I have never gotten over that shitty feeling that I miss him. My seat was perfect, close to the French team and in a corner so I could see it all.

Despite the miss of Mahut I have tried to make most of the days there. Tennis is always nice to watch and to be so far from home makes it very special. The teams were introduced by the Carnaval groups based on the island, with lots of dance and music. The first day gave France two wins already, giving itself a very comfortable lead on friday.
It's nice to be in the middle of the action and to enjoy two great tennis matches. Gael Monfils wasn't as spectaculair as he

can be, he seemed to be focussed on winning his point for France, without too much fuzz. Gilles Simon did the same for his match, but this was a more competitive match, and that was nice for the day. Both matches on friday got a few drops of rain, but they were not stopped for it, one little shower in the first match and another little shower in the second match.

Saturday was really tough for me, because that's the day of the doublesmatch. I love doubles and I am lucky that my favourite player plays a lot of doubles too. But he should have been here and not the duo of Gasquet-Tsonga. Of course I supported them, but it wasn't with my heart this time. Still they took this point too and it was a very happy end of the second day Davis Cup. France secured it's place in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Davis Cup. Of course I was happy too, but this day never got me as excited as usual during Davis Cup, due to the miss of my favourite player.

For the last day on sunday, I had a seat on a different tribune to have a better sight on the French bench. This time we didn't have introduction of the teams, but only two matches to look forward too. It were Gasquet and Tsonga who would play the remaining dead

rubbers. Richard won the first one in two sets, delivering point number 4 to France. Jo went on court too for his match, and lost the first set in a tight tiebreak. His opponent won the only set for Canada, but was forced to retire due to an injury he got during the warming up. A pity for Canada (and for the tie) to end like this.

So, France did where they came for: winning 5 out of 5 matches and going confidently into the Quarterfinals against Czech Republic.
Because the sunday ended so early I had enough time to check out more of the Island. I ended up going to Le Gosier, because I wanted to check out their beaches.