Issue link: http://itf.uberflip.com/i/441551
18 ITFWORLD WINTER 2014 advantage and many Swiss fans claimed they were being further inconvenienced by having to travel 800 km north to Lille and the cold of the French lowlands, rather than have the final in the warmer south, and a good deal closer to their homes, in Nice (even though all of France's representatives have homes in Switzerland). France had dropped in a specially prepared court, the lightest brown and conducive to their experienced clay- courters, playing true if a little slow. The Swiss supporters, also, were not happy with their ten per cent allocation of tickets, limiting their number to 2,700 crammed into the Stade Pierre Mauroy, the two-year-old home of Lille's football team. On top of that, they were discouraged from bringing the biggest of their trademark cowbells. What else could possibly go wrong? In front of 27,432 fans — the biggest crowd ever to watch a tennis match until Sunday, when the bar was raised higher, to 27,448 people watching — it started well enough for the visitors when Wawrinka beat an out-of-sorts Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. However fears that the Swiss would lose again in a final, having been this far just once before, grew when Monfils DAVIS CUP BY BNP PARIBAS But Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is not about money and personal glory. It is about sublimating the self for the good of the team. In an era when national loyalties across the sporting spectrum have been debased, it also reminds elite athletes where they came from, where they learned their tennis and who their real friends are. The most eloquent expression of Swiss joy came from Wawrinka, whose quiet demeanour disguises a mischievous sense of humour and steadfast dedication. He has sometimes been critical of Federer for what he rightly or wrongly perceived as a lack of wholehearted commitment to Switzerland's cause, but those old wounds have long since disappeared. Stan, as he has been known since winning the 2014 Australian Open, told Swiss reporters in his more expressive French, "It's a final. I'm representing my country. This is why I hate tennis and I love tennis. It's because the emotions really hurt when you're nervous, but it's so wonderful when you're playing well." Only eight days earlier, there was no such glow of optimism. Federer had withdrawn at the last minute from the final of the ATP World Tour Finals against world No. 1 Djokovic at the O2 Arena in London, only the third time in his career he had retired during a tournament, and there was discord between him and Wawrinka, albeit temporary. Federer had aggravated a back strain the previous night when beating his friend in a three-set semifinal of mounting passion near the end of an otherwise disappointing tournament. That match culminated in Stan railing at Roger's wife, Mirka, for interjecting in the closing moments. Rattled, he blew four match points and the semifinal, and only a heart- to-heart talk with Federer in the locker room afterwards brought the acrimony to a conclusion. Federer, however, was not fit enough to play Djokovic on the Sunday — there was little confidence in his beating the rampant Serb in any case — but now he might not be fit for Davis Cup. He travelled to Lille in hope rather than expectation and lasted barely 20 minutes on the practice court just two days before the start of the tie on Friday. It did not look good for Switzerland or Federer. The odds increasingly favoured the hosts, hungry to beat opponents who had two top four players in their squad and who had long been their "noisy neighbours". None the less, now they had home Gael Monfils said his victory over Federer in the second rubber was one of the top three matches of his career