By Erik Gudris | Sunday, November 23, 2014
Roger Federer clinically dismissed Richard Gasquet in straight sets to earn Switzerland its first ever Davis Cup title.
Photo Source: Julian Finney/Getty
Roger Federer added another piece of history to his legendary resume by clinching the first ever Davis Cup title for Switzerland.
"We fought hard for it. I've been playing this game for almost 15 years now and clearly I've never come this close to this past weekend. I'm happy I was able to stay calm and play a good match when I had to and I'm very happy for all the guys on the team," Federer said just after his 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victoy over Richard Gasquet.
With Switzerland leading France 2-1 after the doubles, Federer was given the opportunity to close out the win in the reverse singles on Sunday in Lille, France.
While Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was scheduled to play Federer, a right elbow issue forced Tsonga to not compete. That left Richard Gasquet with the unenviable task of trying to stop Federer and force a potential decisive fifth rubber.
Despite vocal crowd support from the 27,000-plus on hand, Gasquet found himself under pressure right from the start. The Frenchman, though holding his own in several baseline rallies, soon dropped serve giving Federer an early lead.
Federer, who often held his own service games to love, missed out on three set point chances late in the set. While Gasquet fought hard to keep the set even, he couldn't stop Federer from soon serving out the set 6-4.
Federer took control early in the second set by breaking Gasquet right away. Opening up a 3-0 lead, the nearly perfect Federer by now had only dropped one point in his last five service games.
Federer, with a backhand winner that just dropped over the net, took the second set 6-2 and now found himself only a set away from history.
With Federer having dropped only seven points on his serve as the third set commenced, Gasquet had few options other than hope that Federer's level might drop. Gasquet again found himself under duress in his opening service game. Though he faced four break points, Gasquet clung on to his serve for 1-0.
Though Gasquet would get to 15-30 on Federer's serve several times during the day, he never managed to earn a break point opportunity. Federer meanwhile enjoyed multiple break point chances including when he earned the pivotal break for 3-2 in the third after Gasquet shanked a backhand wide.
With the goal in sight, Federer didn't waver as, on his 16th break point chance, secured the insurance break for 5-2 when Gasquet sent a forehand wide.
The last game for Federer was a pure clinic in serving out a match as he soon found himself at championship point at 40-0. With a final drop shot winner, Federer collapsed onto the court in celebration as his teammates rushed to him on court to savor the moment.
Federer ended the match with a stunning 62 winners and 24 unforced errors compared to Gasquet's 34 winners and 21 unforced errors. Federer also won 100% of his second serve points.
"Everybody worked so hard to get me match ready," Federer said in an on-court interview after celebrating with his team. "And Stan (Wawrinka) has put in so much effort over the years and he played an unbelievable weekend and that's what gave me the opportunity today. I'm very much aware of that and this one is for the boys."
Afterwards, Federer when asked how he felt personally about finally winning Davis Cup said the moment was more for his team than for him.
"This is not for me. This is for them. I've won enough in my career that I don't need this to complete my everything you know ticking off the box. I'm just happy for everybody else and I'm happy it is a great historic tennis moment in our country."