EDITORIAL
Day of glory for French tennis: the French women's team won Sunday the third Fed Cup in its history by dominating Australia, home, by three wins to two. From now on, the Fed Cup will now change its formula, with a week of competition in April, bringing together all the countries in Hungary. For Virginie Phulpin, sports editorialist of Europe 1, this novelty will certainly make us nostalgic of the French performance of the weekend.
"What does tennis offer us more beautiful than these Fed Cup matches like this weekend?" The French went to win in Perth, in front of 12,000 enthusiastic Australian fans. far from being favorites, and they did it at the end of the suspense, a tie after the four singles, and it's the decisive double that gives them the victory. the memories of the players and the public And what do we do We break everything for a new formula Why?
There, we will meet the players gathered for a week in Hungary in April. 12 countries present, and we made a kind of small championship of hens, semi-finals and a final, with each time two singles and a double, and that's all. I'm having a hard time dreaming for a number of reasons.
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The first has to do with the calendar. It will be in April. Nothing to do with the tennis calendar. We will not even be in the mid-season that the Fed Cup will be over. It looks like it's being mailed as a routine matter to better deal with what's important afterwards. There is no worse message.
Then the formula looks like a football world cup. It's great for football, but it has nothing to do with the history of tennis. Maybe we could respect a little bit what made the essence of this sport. And then everything is played in a country where everyone gets together. For passion, we will iron. There will be spectators, that's for sure. But there will never be a public as hot as during these meetings outside or at home. And that was also the salt of this Fed Cup. The players will tell you the same thing besides. Still, it would have been necessary to consult them ... "
It's like the Davis Cup, we change the formula to attract the best players.
"There, we have just experienced Australia-France, the world number 1, Ashleigh Barty, was present.We will see in April, but I do not see how it could be more attracted by the new formula.And then this Fed Cup It's also about bringing together a team, and a nation, into an individual grassroots sport that is built up over the course of the year and it's not just a single week together. We're going to forge a team identity Look at Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic, they were scrambled, the Fed Cup allowed them to rediscover themselves little by little and finally win together on Sunday. week, they would not have spoken to each other, the victory is magnificent, but it makes them even more nostalgic. "