Another choke job by Simon I see. I was watching "The Closer" take out Chile so I didn't see it. Any crying on the sidelines to report? I bet Guy is ticked. This guy called him out for not letting him play the 5th rubber against Viktor last year.

Vive la France!

Whether Simon choke or not, do remember Melzer is a top ten guy. In fact under normal circumstances I don't expect Simon to beat Melzer, at least not until they go the distance. Melzer is that kind of player that can give Simon all sorts of trouble, just like Llodra, that's because they come with their net rushing game. Simon has incredible passing shots from the baseline, he's one that I rank just behind Rafa and Murray, see how he just flick his wrist and the ball just barely goes over the net and passes his opponent. Still Simon can't handle the S& V game being consistently played against him.

Melzer was obviously tired playing for three consecutive days, so he was barely hanging on because it's Davis Cup and he's playing in front of the home crowd. I think if Simon was to meet Melzer on the the first day, maybe it's a lot easier for Melzer. There are some players that Simon just find it difficult to beat, like Gasquet, Youzhny, Llodra. However there are some he keeps beating, like Troicki.

lucky: Simon handles Llodra who plays s and v. I guess Meltzer is a much better player.
This shows a)what strength and depth French team have and how you need two top players in the squad if u r to win. Explains why GB is so poor. Also am surprised at all these confident predictions of US win...they have Andy and......? Of course Bryan brothers are there too, but again look at the strength in depth of the Spanish team.

deuce, go and look up Simon vs Llodra H2H, Simon just can't deal with Llodra's S& V game. The last time they met, if I'm not wrong, was the semi of Nice in 2009 where Simon was soundly beaten. Llodra was then beaten by Ljuby in the final, that was on indoor hard court. There are simply some players that Simon can't deal with, those who can overpower him, eg.Nole and Rafa, or outwit him, like Murray, or simply quicker than him, eg Llodra.

In 2008, he could beat Fed because back then, Simon was at his very best and Fed was still playing mainly a baseline game. After the injury, Simon now is not as good as his 2008, and right now, Fed is playing more a net rushing game, like he did at the WTF last year. In a best of 3 sets match, if Fed plays his net rushing game, I foresee him beating Simon in straights, unless Fed goes walkabout again in the second set. If Simon can stretch Fed to go the distance, he may be able to beat Fed again. Simon has his chances at the AO but failed in the final set, when it comes to slams, Fed is a lot more experienced than Simon, and the likes of Tipsy, Berdy, Falla and Andreev.

lucky: My bad! Got completely muddled up!! I was remembering Serbia v France Davis cup, it was Simon's h2h against Troiki, I was thinking about! None of us at the time could understand Forget's decision. Duh!
Simon is not the same player, as we've discussed :( Apparently power players have a much longer shelf life, which is also bad news for Andy M :(

simon shouldnt play davis cup when guy forget is around.