The draw for the Davis Cup final has been announced with both teams making late changes to their lineups.
Favourites France, who will host the tie in Lille, has opted to replace Nicolas Mahut with Richard Gasquet for the doubles in a somewhat surprise move. Mahut is a top-10 doubles player that has claimed four titles on the ATP Tour this season. In comparison, Gasquet in mainly focused on the singles tour and has only played in two doubles matches this season.
It is unclear as to what the reasoning was for the swap. Last week Mahut suffered a cut to his playing hand during their ATP Finals in London. He was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to his partner, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, suffering a back injury. Herbert has been named in the draw.
Joining Mahut on the bench is Julien Benneteau. The 35-year-old played in the quarter-finals of the competition earlier in the year. Scoring a win in France’s doubles match with Great Britain alongside Mahut.
Belgium has also made a change to their doubles team with Joris de Loore coming in for Arthur de Greef. The 24-year-old is yet to play in the main draw of a grand slam event and achieved a ranking high of 174th in 2016.
The three-day tie will get underway on Friday with ATP Finals runner-up David Goffin taking on Lucas Pouille. On the ATP Tour Goffin has never defeated the Frenchman, suffering three losses to him in 2016. Following on from that match will be Steve Darcis against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The singles will then be reversed on Sunday, barring any last-minute changes.
As for Saturday’s doubles match, Gasquet will team up with Herbert and de Loore will partner Bemelmans.
France currently leads Belgium 4-3 in their head-to-head, but the two countries haven’t played each other since 2001. The last time France won the title. Since then they had settled for runner-up in 2002, 2010 and 2014. Meanwhile, Belgium are yet to win the tournament.
The final will take place on an indoor hard court at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.
🇫🇷 @la_pouille and 🇧🇪 @David__Goffin will open the 2017 #DavisCupFinal!! pic.twitter.com/nYrC7Gzhwc
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) 23 November 2017
