Germany look to overcome a dire Davis Cup record against France as the two teams meet in the quarter-finals this weekend.
You have to go back to before World War II to find the last time Germany beat France in the Davis Cup and they face an uphill task this weekend against an in-form French side containing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, fresh from his run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
The two sides met in the first round of last year's competition. The French laid down a fast indoor hard court in Toulouse and secured a fairly emphatic 4-1 win. Gael Monfils deflated the Germans with a straight sets win over the team's lynchpin - Philipp Kohlschreiber and by the end of day two the tie was done and dusted.
Germany are attempting to negate the threat of the big hitters like Tsonga by hosting the tie on clay, a wise move given it's the favourite surface of their number one - world number 20 Florian Mayer. It will be interesting to see whether France field Tsonga in the singles. He's full of confidence right now, but Gael Monfils (a former French Open semi-finalist) and Richard Gasquet are much better on clay.
Expect this one to be closer than before. Mayer performed extremely well during the clay-court swing and Kohlschreiber has won ATP titles on the red dirt. However France have an edge with the presence of Michael Llodra, a semi-finalist in the doubles at the French Open this year and his experience in that crucial third rubber could swing the tie for them.
