Exactly 10 years ago, Switzerland won the Davis Cup for the only time. We look back.
Serve Roger Federer, return Richard Gasquet, stop ball Federer – and the historic sporting moment was a fact: On November 23, 2014, Switzerland won the Davis Cup for the first and only time in Lille. After 3 singles and the doubles, the final duel was decided and the celebrations in the Swiss camp could begin.
The week in the north of France had started very badly exactly 10 years ago: team leader Roger Federer had arrived from the ATP Finals in London with a damaged back. The deployment of the then world number 2 was pending.
Federer dominant from Saturday
René Stammbach, President of Swiss Tennis back then, remembers: “We were having dinner and Roger could barely get up from his chair. That was a shock for us. We thought to ourselves, ‘Gopferopfer, now we’re finally in the final and now this.'”
Luckily for Switzerland, Federer was able to play and he did so very successfully from the second day onwards: After the Basel bidder had no chance against Gaël Monfils on Friday, Federer won the important doubles in 3 sets alongside Stan Wawrinka on Saturday and left on Sunday Gasquet had no chance in the individual.
The Swiss fans take Lille
Marco Chiudinelli, number 3 in the Swiss team at the time, ranked 216th in the world, remembers the unique setting in Lille. “The final was a different league,” says the now 43-year-old SRF tennis expert. The crowds in the football stadium – around 27,000 fans were in attendance every day – were impressive.
Stammbach also raves: “The city was full of Swiss. Every restaurant is overcrowded with Swiss people. It was a huge experience.”
The French had to join in the celebrations
Even if it was Federer’s job to send Switzerland into collective ecstasy, Wawrinka’s role should not be ignored. The Romand, world number 4 10 years ago, put Switzerland in the lead on Friday with a four-set win against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and also played well in the doubles alongside Federer.
The Swiss party could begin on Sunday evening. Initially in the presence of the final losers, as Chiudinelli remembers: “The protocol called for dinner together. Of course that was pretty brutal for the French.” The Swiss then moved on alone. And it was a long night. “Everything went like a trance,” says Chiudinelli, summing up the week in Lille.
