ADVERTISEMENTSwitzerland and France will meet in the final of the 2014 Davis Cup, which gets underway in Lille on Friday.
Les Bleus’ advantage may lie in their strength in depth as all of their players feature in the top 30 but Swiss fans will take heart from the fact that 17-time grand slam champion Roger Federer has been named to play in the second singles rubber after recovering from a back injury.
The famous trophy is a notable absentee on his long list of achievements but the 33-year-old will be looking to bounce back after withdrawing from Sunday’s ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Stanislas Wawrinka will open proceedings in the best-of-five series against French number one Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday.
Saturday’s doubles will feature Julien Bennetteau and Richard Gasquet of France against Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lammer with the reverse singles due on Sunday.