French musketeers hoping Mathieu's flair can quell Safin

Home team call on 20-year-old novice to help beat experienced Russians in Davis Cup final which starts today

The Davis Cup final here between French musketeers and Russian mavericks promised much even before the French tossed D'Artagnan into the fray in the form of Paul-Henri Mathieu, a 20-year-old who makes his debut in the competition against Marat Safin in today's opening rubber.

Mathieu, 6ft 1in and happy to stand up and be counted, replaces Arnaud Clement, who told Guy Forget, the France captain, that he was not 100 per-cent fit because of a wrist injury. Clement's honesty resolved a selection dilemma for Forget, who was impressed with the way Mathieu had been hitting the ball in practice on the clay here at the Palais Omnisport de Bercy.

Mathieu, from Strasbourg, defeated Safin, 7-6, 6-4, on a medium-pace indoor hardcourt in the semi-finals of the Kremlin Cup en route to winning the title in Moscow in October. A week later, Mathieu won his second ATP Tour title in Lyon, beating Gustavo Kuerten, the Brazilian former world No 1, in the final. A pelvic strain prevented Mathieu from playing in the Paris Masters event in Bercy a month ago, Safin winning the title for a second time. Since then the blue hard court has been replaced by red clay.

When France beat Australia to win the Davis Cup on a grass court in Melbourne last December, Mathieu was helping Lille win the French Inter-Club championship. At the time he was ranked No 147 in the world and No 13 in France. He is now ranked No 36 in the world, having ignited his year with a stirring display against Andre Agassi in the fourth round of the French Open in June, the American forcing his way into the match after losing the opening two sets.

Mathieu, like the American Pete Sampras in Lyon in 1991, is being asked to take the strain in a final on his first Davis Cup appearance. Sampras did not cope well, losing to Henri Leconte in the second singles rubber and to Forget in the decisive third rubber as France won the trophy for the first time since 1932.

The Russians believe the Sampras syndrome may work against Mathieu. Safin, asked if he expected the Frenchman to play with the confidence he showed in the Kremlin Cup, said: "This is not an individual match, it is a team match. The burden of pressure will be on Mathieu's shoulders, so I cannot really presume that he will play so risky as he did during the Moscow semi-final."

Mathieu's response was curt: "I don't know why [Safin] said that. Taking risks is part of my game. Of course there's going to be pressure, but this is what makes me play well. In Moscow it was my first semi. There was pressure also."

Forget weighed in with: "Paul-Henri's maturity is one of his strengths. Maybe he's less experienced than the other guys here, but very often he beats very strong players during very big matches."

Safin's point about the team ethic is interesting. France's esprit de corps has enabled their squad of highly-skilled but low-profile players to win eight consecutive Davis Cup ties since 2000. Their unity is built on friendship and a common goal. None of their players is a Grand Slam champion, and they know that the Davis Cup offers them their greatest opportunity of national fame.

The all-for-one, one-for-all code of these musketeers extends from the court to the bank. Forget and his players divide France's Davis Cup profits and prize money between them, each paid according to his participation. This year's sum could reach $2m (£1.3m). The French Tennis Federation takes none of this, having come to regard the Davis Cup as the province of the players. The players even fund peripheral entertaining, such as a band at Roland Garros for the semi-final against the United States, and a donation of about £23,000 to help supporters travel to last year's final in Australia.

Russia's two-man team, Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov, are independent spirits. Both have Grand Slam titles to their name, Safin the 2000 United States Open, Kafelnikov the 1996 French Open, in which he won the singles and doubles titles, and the 1999 Australian Open.

Kafelnikov also won the Olympic Games singles gold medal in Sydney 2000, which gave him a taste of what it would be like to take the Davis Cup to Russia for the first time. He competed in his country's two losing finals in Moscow, against Sweden in 1994 and against the United States in 1995, and remains adamant that he will retire as a player if Russia triumph over the next three days. Win or lose, Kafelnikov has booked into a clinic in Zurich next Monday for surgery on a varicose vein.

Due to play Sebastien Grosjean, the French No 1, in today's second singles, Kafelnikov is then prepared to partner Safin against Fabrice Santoro and Nicolas Escude in tomorrow's doubles, with Mathieu looming in a possibly decisive concluding singles rubber.

Russia's mavericks have the class and experience to prevail. However, bearing in mind how Boris Yeltsin's impromptu arrival in the Olympic stadium in 1994 distracted Andrei Volkov, the worry is that the former Russian president is due here to support them once more.

DAVIS CUP FINAL: France v Russia (French names first; all times GMT): Today: Noon: P-H Mathieu v M Safin, S Grosjean v Y Kafelnikov. Tomorrow: 1pm: N Escude and F Santorov v Kafelnikov and Safin. Sunday: Noon: Grosjean v Safin, Mathieu v Kafelnikov.