Davis Cup Final preview: Can France retain their trophy?

Odds and preview ahead of 2018 Davis Cup final

The Davis Cup final begins on Friday as France take on Croatia on the clay courts of Lille’s Stade Pierre Mauroy.

Yannick Noah’s side will return to the scene of last year’s victory, where they sealed a 10th Davis Cup win against Belgium.

It’ll be Noah’s final game in charge before Amelie Mauresmo takes control in 2019.

Croatia are bidding for just their second David Cup triumph. They are led by world No. 7 Marin Cilic and were beaten finalists back in 2016.

The format

The two teams will play five matches to decide the winner of the Davis Cup. It all begins this Friday with two singles matches, followed by a doubles fixture on Saturday.

It will all come to a conclusion on Sunday night with another round of singles matches.

All fixtures will be played as best-of-five-set format. The winner of each match scores one point, the first team to accumulate three points grabs the victory.

Who’s in and who’s out?

France are without the crocked trio of Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon.

Lucas Pouille returns to the scene of last year’s triumph and star man Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has made it despite his injury-hit 2018.

Top 20 doubles duo Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert have cemented their positions in the team.

World-number 40 Jeremy Chardy makes up the five-strong French side.