BRITISH captain Leon Smith believes his team’s greater experience could swing a well-matched quarter final his way.
France skipper Yannick Noah has raised eyebrows by picking world No 65 Jeremy Chardy over Gilles Simon, the No 30 and a veteran of several Davis Cup campaigns.
Chardy and team-mate Lucas Pouille have played just six singles rubbers between them, while their British opponents this afternoon in Rouen, Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund, have contested 18 and six respectively.
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Smith said: “That can definitely help because it is a very different experience.
“There’s a lot of expectation on the French team, they’re favourites for this tie, they’ll have the home fans.
“Yannick’s talked a lot about wanting success in this competition so there’s a lot riding on it for them, as there is for us obviously.
“As underdogs but with on paper a more experienced team, that can help.”
Although Tim Henman has been helping world No 44 Evans with his preparations to play on clay for the first time in three years, much may depend on Edmund.
The world No 47 is much more at home on the surface and won both his matches to lead Britain to victory in last year’s quarter final against Serbia in Belgrade.
Edmund said: “The last time I played on clay was in Serbia – I definitely played some good tennis there so there are lots of good memories.
“This is the first competitive match since then and it has been nine months so I have to get used to the transition from hard to clay.
“But I am looking forward to it. Whenever you come to Davis Cup you have time to prepare so there are no excuses.”
But Edmund and Evans had to make their excuses and leave the over-running draw event in order to practise.
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It was an example of the kind of irritations, major and minor, which have left player enthusiasm for the Davis Cup at an all-time low.
Dave Haggerty, president of the International Tennis Federation, has vowed to cut down on the pomp and ceremony to make the experience less of an ordeal.
And the ITF board is likely to agree at its August AGM to cut singles matches from best-of-five to best-of-three sets from next year in a bid to persuade more of the top players to fit the Davis Cup into their crowded schedule.
But Haggerty says the ITF will continue to consider appointing a neutral city to host the final – despite player opposition to any change to the competition’s home and away format.
Jamie Murray said: “I can tell you the players do not want to do that but they are pushing ahead with that.”
More than 20 cities expressed an interest and the ITF will assess the surviving bids before deciding whether to recommend the controversial move to the AGM.
Haggerty stressed that any boost in revenue from holding the final in, say, Dubai, would ultimately benefit tennis as it would be ploughed back into junior tournaments and supporting member federations.
But Noah, who made his debut in the competition as an 18 year old in the 1978 semi final against Britain, said: “It does have serious problems. I guess I'm like the old generation.
“It's almost devastating to see such an event disappearing, it is heartbreaking for me.
“Of course I understand that the economy is central to all the decisions nowadays but sometimes some dreamers can think there is maybe more than that.”
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