Madrid (AFP)
For his first captain of the French Davis Cup team, Sebastien Grosjean, very disappointed after the elimination against Serbia Thursday, regretted losing a meeting against Japan, depriving the Blues of a possible qualification as the best second.
Q: How do you feel after this elimination?
A: "Obviously, we are all very disappointed, we wanted to go to the end of this competition, but unfortunately we finished second in the group and Serbia in first place, and in this formula all the points are worth a lot to go further."
Q: What did the French players miss?
A: "Against Japan, the weakest team in the group, we just have to win 3-0, even with today's defeat 2-1, we can finish second best and continue in the adventure. yes, we would have played Spain, maybe, but we were still alive, we knew from the start that all the points and all the sets would count so there is disappointment. "
Q: Does the new format satisfy you?
A: "If you're talking about atmosphere, the last time we played Serbia there was no Novak (Djokovic), there was (Lazlo) Djere The last time we played Spain there was no Rafa (Nadal) It takes a little time to get a little bit of everything together: the audience, the fans, the best players in the world ... because we want to see a show on the court The guys in any case have responded present.They are always at the rendezvous: we call them and they are there.As soon as it is necessary to wear the shirt of the team of France, they come.
Q: Are you satisfied with your selection?
A: "If you're talking about Gael's choice (Monfils) to play the second singles against Japan, when you have the 10th in the world coming out of a quarter in Flushing, who's coming out of a quarter at Bercy ... well Just put it, Jo was up and double, they (Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert) went to the end of themselves, because they had arrived 24 hours ago, to fetch Of course, Gael did not have a good game so we changed to Serbia because we knew that whatever happened, it would be complicated against Novak and moreover Gael did not many victories against the Serbian. "
Q: Do you feel frustrated for your first to head the Blues?
A: "Disappointment especially, the disappointment of not going further because it's an honor to be at this post.The French team is a lot to me. redeem."
Q: Do you want France to receive an invitation for the 2020 Davis Cup or to go through qualifying?
A: "France is a strong tennis nation, we had a win and a final, we're still loyal to the Davis Cup, the players proudly represent the flag, and of course it's a decision that will be made by It's also in the interest of the competition to have a strong nation, as was the case this year with invitations to Great Britain and Argentina who won the Davis Cup few years ago."
Interview at a press point
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