Hugo Gaston and Adrian Mannarino have been selected by captain Sébastien Grosjean to complete the French team which will play the Davis Cup (November 25-December 5), the French Tennis Federation (FFT) announced on Wednesday.
Gaston jumped from 103rd to 67th in the world after reaching the quarter-finals at the Masters 1000 in Paris last week.
For his part, Mannarino is 66th.
🇫🇷 After Ugo Humbert's withdrawal, the captain of the France team Sébastien Grosjean has chosen to call Hugo Gaston and Adrian Mannarino for the final phase of the Davis Cup!
𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙀𝙕 𝙇𝙀𝙎 𝘽𝙇𝙀𝙐𝙎 👊💙 # DavisCupFinals pic.twitter.com/dU4qCqF4GA
- FFT (@FFTennis) November 10, 2021
The two players, left-handed, were called up following the withdrawal of French n ° 2 Ugo Humbert who ended his season on October 30.
The French n ° 1 Gaël Monfils, injured during the Bercy Open, also ended his season but he was not part of the group initially selected by Grosjean on October 25.
In the end, Grosjean will have to reduce his group to five players
"In view of their end of the season, Hugo Gaston and Adrian Mannarino deserve their place in the France team," explained Grosjean. Hugo signed a magnificent course at the Rolex Paris Masters by reaching the quarter-finals, with an exceptional quality of play. For his part, Adrian is back to a very interesting level of play after great victories against Andrey Rublev in Moscow and Nikoloz Basilashvili in Paris. I am therefore counting on them to help the French team to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup. "
Gaston and Mannarino therefore join a group already made up of four players: Richard Gasquet (74th), Arthur Rinderknech (60th), as well as Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut who should form the pair of doubles.
In the end, Grosjean will have to reduce his group to five players.
“Going with six players allows for more possibilities,” he explained.
In this Davis Cup "new formula" launched in 2019, France will face in the group stage the Czech Republic (November 25) and Great Britain (November 27) in group C, in Innsbruck (Austria).
The winner of each of the six pools of three as well as the two best runners-up will play the quarter-finals.
