VANCOUVER — Guy Forget, the 47-year-old captain of their Davis Cup team, is a player French tennis fans will never forget.

In 1991, when he beat Pete Sampras in Lyon to give France an insurmountable 3-1 lead over the U.S., it gave his country its first Davis Cup title in 59 years.

While he never won a major, Forget won six ATP Tour events in one season and was ranked as high as the world’s No. 4 player. But he recalls that upset win over Sampras and the U.S. in the Davis Cup greatest moment in his career.

He knows the French are favoured to defeat Canada in their Davis Cup tie this week, starting Friday in the indoor arena at the University of British Columbia’s Doug Mitchell Sports Centre. Forget’s Cup experience, however, reminds him that world seedings can be scattered like dust in the wind in an atmosphere of exceptional drama, heroic efforts and beguiling team play.

“Davis Cup is a very different competition,” Forget said Tuesday, following a practice at UBC. “What’s so special about it is whether you play at home or away. The atmosphere is very different. I’ve seen in the past — we’ve seen in the past — that you can have upsets. We’ve (France) upset teams that were bigger than us. My goal is to make sure we’re ready for that tie.”

France has four players — Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (No. 6), Gilles Simon (No. 12), Gael Monfils (No. 13) and Richard Gasquet (No. 16) ranked among the top 20 players in the latest ATP world rankings. Simon and Gasquet are not in Vancouver, but Julien Benneteau (No. 35), one of the best players on the ATP Tour not to have won a title, and Michael Llodra (No. 45) are in town to help the French move on against a Canadian team that has only one player, Milos Raonic (No. 29), among the world’s top 100.

“We know how Milos and Daniel (Nestor) and all their friends can play,” Forget said. “And if they play at their best level, and with the crowd involved, it can become a tricky match. On paper, we have a little edge on the Canadian team. My goal is to make sure we can create that little space. But in tennis, things can turn pretty quickly. I think all our guys are very focused on the matches, and they know how well the Canadian players can play. We take all the matches pretty seriously.”

Monfils brushed off a right knee injury, practised Tuesday and declared himself ready after being checked out.

“I had a little pain, but nothing serious,” he said. “I might not feel better later this week. But, right now, I feel great.”

As a player, Forget won two Davis Cups — in ’91 and 1996, when the French scored a 3-2 victory in the best-of-five series against host Sweden.

He was named Davis Cup captain in 1999, and France went on to lose in the final that year to Australia. Two years later, he captained the French to a surprising win against Australia in Melbourne.

Under his captaincy, France has played two others finals, which it lost, against Russia at home (2002) and Serbia away (2010).

Vancouver Sun

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