France sprang a surprise at Thursday’s Davis Cup final draw ceremony when they named Jeremy Chardy and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as their singles players for the opening day’s action in Lille.
Already without the likes of Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils for the final against Croatia, team captain Yannick Noah decided to leave out Lucas Pouille, the top-ranked player in his squad.
World number 40 Chardy will open the tie on Friday against Croatia’s Borna Coric, with Tsonga then taking on Marin Cilic.
Cilic and Coric are ranked seventh and 12th respectively, making captain Zeljko Krajan’s decision on his singles players a straightforward one.
“I’m a little surprised Jeremy (Chardy) plays,” Cilic said at the draw ceremony. “I was expecting Lucas and Jo. They will have the opportunity to change on Sunday probably with Lucas entering in the place of Jeremy.”
Tsonga, 259th in the ATP rankings, missed seven months of the year because of knee surgery and has played only 11 singles matches this year on the Tour.
He lost in the first round in his most recent tournaments, in Vienna and Paris.
Leaving out the 32nd-ranked Pouille is a potential gamble, even though the 33-year-old Tsonga who is a former world number five has a fine pedigree and a big-match character.
He also played in last year’s final when France beat Belgium.
He has lost five of his seven matches against Cilic, although they have played only once since 2015 and Tsonga won their last clash, nearly two years ago in Rotterdam.
Chardy, 31, has impressed Noah during practice and his 2-1 head-to-head record over Coric may have been a factor in his decision, while he is 2-3 against Cilic.
Saturday’s doubles will see home pair Nicolas Mahut and Pierre Hugues-Herbert take on Mate Pavic and Ivan Dodig.
Sunday’s reverse singles would see Tsonga face Coric in a possible deciding fifth rubber, although the captains are allowed to change their teams during the tie.
France are the defending champions and are trying to win the title for the 11th time.
Croatia are seeking to repeat their triumph of 2005 when they won the cup in Slovakia.
Croatia captain Zeljko Krajan said Noah’s selections had not taken him by surprise.
“I know he can sometimes take a joker out of his pocket,” Krajan said. “It does not always work according to the ranking.
“I thought Chardy could be his joker this weekend. I hope it will not be as successful as usual in the Davis Cup.”
The final, being played on clay inside the Stade Pierre Mauroy, which can hold 28,000 fans, is the last one before the century-old competition is revamped next year.
The 2019 competition will do away with the `home and away’ format after an opening qualification round and will culminate in an 18-nation finals week in Madrid in November.
