The American captain, Patrick McEnroe, was kept guessing last night as to just who would be facing Andy Roddick in the first of tomorrow's reverse singles in this World Group quarterfinal in Winston Salem, N.C.
"I think they could put in Richard Gasquet," said McEnroe. "We’re not really too concerned, to be honest. If Andy comes and plays well, plays his game, I think we’re in pretty good shape."
McEnroe’s counterpart, Guy Forget, was thrown a lifeline by his excellent doubles team of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra and now he has all the usual permutations to sift through. Forget must judge Llodra’s fitness after the Parisian left hander went through a tough singles on Friday as well as Saturday’s doubles in case the fifth rubber against James Blake is live and then there is the question of whether Paul-Henri Mathieu should be the man to handle Roddick.
Forget has Gasquet, the French No. 1 on the bench and, apparently this enigmatic player is now ready to step in although he seemed to need another long talking to from his captain in the corridor outside the French locker room last night.
When asked about this Forget was very frank.
"I’m not begging him," Forget said. "If he doesn’t want to play he won’t go out. I’m not going to tell him 'You must go out' because I know he will probably just get mad at me or he will go out and say 'Well I didn’t want to play and I lost so you knew about it.' I don’t want that attitude. I expect the opposite. That’s one of the things we’ve talked about and we’ll talk more tonight.”
Gasquet’s attitude is baffling. He is exceptionally gifted with possibly the greatest backhand in the game but he appears mentally fragile to a ruinous degree. As a result, Forget may decide to stick with Mathieu, hardly a tower of mental strength, either, but certainly more willing to put himself on the line. Then there would be the other option – Clement. The person who beats Roddick, if anyone can, is going to have to return like a wizard. Few people return better than the man from the South of France and, as his compatriot Fabrice Santoro has proved time and again, size does not always matter in tennis.
Above all, Forget wants to be sure that the player he sends out to do battle for France really believes he can win, even if the opposition is a power serving giant called Roddick, playing on a lightening quick court.
One thing seemed certain last night, if Llodra is called upon, he will be ready. "Of course I’m ready," Llodra replied to the inevitable question. "Everybody wants to play. It’s always, you know, more than a pleasure. It’s fabulous for us to play this kind of match. So if Arnaud has to play tomorrow or I have to play, of course we are ready. It’s a dream for us."
When Forget goes to bed tonight, maybe he’ll dream up a solution. Meanwhile Roddick and James Blake should slumber on, undisturbed.
