2 Responses to daviscup96france_sweden4

1. Voo de Mar says:

   December 24, 2024 at 9:07 am

   Points won by each set: | 17-28, 43-44, 38-33, 36-28, 53-44 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   33 % Enqvist – 56 of 167
   28 % Pioline – 56 of 197

   Malmö: December 1, 1996 – the longest & most exciting Sunday in the Davis Cup history as far as the final ties are concerned. The last two rubbers of the 85th Davis Cup edition lasted 9 hours and 13 minutes in total (!), however, initially nothing indicated it’d be so long… The opening no-deuce set of the day was pretty straightforward as Enqvist [9] lost his first service game committing two double faults, and Pioline [21] had no problems to hold five times. In the 2nd set Enqvist led 4:3* (40/15), and squandered a set point at 7:6* (in the 8/10 tie-break) with a forehand error. Pioline found himself a set away to win the biggest match of his life, but he began the 3rd set being broken for the first time on that day. At 0:2 he survived the longest game (9 deuces), yet Enqvist dominated the rest of the set with powerful serves & heavy ground-strokes; he kept his good performance in the first few games of the set no. 4. He led 4:0* (30/15), and when the decider seemed inevitable, Pioline began his chase. The Frenchman was serving at 4-all, 30/15, so six points away from the Cup – Enqvist won seven straight points though. In the decider Pioline established a comfortable 5:2* lead, yet nerves overwhelmed him as he was serving at 5:3. Later on he led 6:5 and 7:6 (30-all) – two points from the title when Enqvist showcased a backhand down the line winner in a 15-stroke rally (the ball landed on the sideline). The last two games were rather unfortunate for the Frenchman, at 7-all he led 40/15 when Enqvist got two straight points with forehand winners that landed on the baseline and the sideline respectively. The Swede serving at 30/15 in the following game, committed two straight double faults, but took control over his nerves, and survived after 4 hours 26 minutes – until the end of their careers, neither of these two players experienced a longer match. After the match point, Enqvist was super calm despite an amazing comeback he produced because Edberg couldn’t have played in the last 5th rubber, and the Frenchmen were favorites to win the title abroad anyway. In an extraordinary decisive rubber, Edberg’s substitute – Kulti – squandered a triple match point, and France ultimately won the trophy. Boetsch lifted a weight off his countryman mind, in other case the loss to Enqvist would remain Pioline’s most devastating defeat… It was the first meeting between Enqvist and Pioline, their H2H is finished with 3-0 for the Swede, who defeated Pioline also in a London ’00 dramatic encounter withstanding two match points (7-6, 4-6, 7-6).

   Serve & volley: Enqvist 0, Pioline 11/16

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   December 24, 2024 at 9:55 am

   Certainly at the end of this match, Pioline couldn’t have dealt with a potential glory, the vision of immortality in French tennis history, but tough to call him “choker” or “physically weak player”, nonetheless he lost all the longest deciding 5th sets he played:

   Aussie Open ’93 – Volkov 6-2, 7-6, 2-6, 5-7, 6-8
   Wimbledon ’95 – Becker 3-6, 1-6, 7-6, 7-6, 7-9
   Davis Cup ’96 – Enqvist 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 4-6, 7-9
   Wimbledon ’98 – Rosset 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 11-13
   Aussie Open ’00 – Ivanisevic 4-6, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1, 7-9
   Wimbledon ’01 – Stoliarov 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 3-6, 10-12 – 2 m.p.

   6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7, 8-6 against Masur at Wimbledon ’93 it’s the only case among seven when he left the court as the victor when the scoreboard showed “6-all” in the fifth set

   He also failed in prolonged two-game advantage deciding 3rd sets he ever played:
   w/Benhabiles vs Hlasek/Winogradsky 2-6, 6-4, 17-19 (Aussie Open ’90) &
   vs Becker 1-6, 7-6, 7-9 (Grand Slam Cup ’95)

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