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Aussie Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald has always been a standup guy. (He was one of the few Aussies to speak directly to questions regarding Lleyton Hewitt's Blake-ian trespasses at the U.S. Open.) So it's not for us to kick the man when he is down, but his decision not to play Todd Woodbridge in the doubles tie against France was the wrong one.

We are not going to quibble with Fitzy's choice to play Hewitt in the dubs instead of the erratic Wayne Arthurs, but why play Rafter when the man's shoulder was aching and there was still a chance that two-time Wimbledon finalist could have played singles on Sunday?

Instead, Rafter/Hewitt went down to the sound, cagey team of Cedric Pioline and Fabrice Santoro and France held a 2-1 lead heading into Sunday. There was almost no question that Hewitt would pummel Sebastien Grosjean again, but with Rafter massaging his aching arm on the sidelines, it was left to the dangerous but undependable Arthurs to quell Nicolas Escude in the fifth and deciding match. The tall lefty – who has ever proven himself to be more than a dangerous floater except for a couple Davis Cup wins against an unmotivated Russian team last year – wasn't up to the task. Consequently, the French clinched a stunning 3-2 Cup victory on grass.

FITZERALD DEFENDS DECISION
"I still have no regrets," Fitzgerald said. "There was no guarantee that Pat could have played Sunday, even if he didn't play Saturday. He was hurting. And we had confidence in Wayne."

We're not sure why the team had so much confidence in Arthurs – it's not
like he's ever been Mr. Clutch at the Slams. But we do know how good
Woodbridge is, with 70 doubles titles and being good enough to be called by
many analysts as the best doubles player on the planet since John McEnroe.
Woodbridge told news.com's Katrina Beikoff that he should never have been replaced, stating he was "bitterly disappointed."

"I think Pat got away from his plans a little bit," said Woodbridge. "For two weeks he had been on a day-on, day-off scenario to keep his arm OK. I think because he went so well on the first day he thought he was going to be all right and could go for it all. In retrospect he should have, and we should have made him stick to the plan of the way practice had been.

"Would you have put the best doubles player in place of the best singles
player at the weekend? No you wouldn't. You would always put the No. 1 guy
out there. It would have been better to have had me out there because of all
the matches I've played on the doubles court this year. Those two boys
(Rafter and Hewitt) hadn't played a doubles match since (their Davis Cup win)
Brazil."

Apparently, Rafter agreed with Fitzy's decision, telling Australia's Channel 7 that, "I knew I had only one match left in me before the doubles, so we thought that we should go for it and see if we can knock it off. "It was a risk we had to take and it didn't come off."

PLAY RAFTER ON THE GRASS
Was it a risk that Fitzy had to take, or should he have held Rafter off until Sunday? Fitzgerald made the very reasonable point that in doubles, Rafter only has to serve half the amount than he does in singles, which is better for his shoulder. But then again, since Fitzy didn't know how Rafter's shoulder would feel on Sunday after two days rest, why risk losing the doubles and then having no Rafter on Sunday, when he is easily the most accomplished grass court player on your squad.

You have to deduce that Fitzy felt that Rafter and Hewitt would win the dubs
and then all he had to count on was Lleyton to take out Grosjean. That would
have worked if Rafter and Hewitt would have served, returned and volleyed
better against Pioline/Santoro, but they seemed to have lost their way. Plus,
it's pretty obvious with their touch around the net that Pioline and Santoro
would be one of the world's top doubles tandems if they played regularly.

Fitzgerald refused to accept that his move cost them the title. "Everyone's a
genius in retrospect but I stand by our decision," Fitzgerald said. "I
certainly have no regrets. I think we made all the right decisions this week.
We made a decision on Friday night that Pat would play doubles but we had
grave doubts about whether he could play on Sunday. There was no guarantee he
could play singles even with a day off and we were confident about Wayne."

Fitzgerald was also forced to defend Australia's decision to install a
temporary grass court over the top of Melbourne Park's Rebound Ace surface
even though both Rafter and Hewitt have won U.S. Opens on hard courts. Why,
we don't know. Any serious student of the pro game realizes that Rebound Ace
and Deco Turf (which the U.S. Open is played on) are very different surfaces,
which is one of the reasons that neither Rafter or Hewitt have won the Aussie
Open yet. Rebound Ace is a spongy surface that doesn't have the same bite as
Deco-Turf, which is the reason that Rafter's kick serve doesn't spin wildly
Down Under and why Lleyton is forced to play so many long points in
Melbourne.

Remember, too, that if then Aussies had gone with Rebound Ace, French captain
Guy Forget could have inserted '01 Aussie Finalist Arnaud Clement into the
lineup and would have been much more secure with '01 Aussie Open
semifinalist Grosjean playing No. 1 singles.

CREDIT ESCUDE AND THE FRENCH TEAM
As an aside, while it's hard to take issue with the strategy of a winning team, if the French had lost, Forget would have been called to task for not choosing to play former Wimbledon finalist Pioline in singles rather than the counterpunching speedster Grosjean, who has few grass court weapons, save for his return and quick feet.

But enough with the criticism, it's time to prop Nicolas Escude, an extremely talented Frenchman who has underachieved at the Slams but has a bright future ahead of him should he get his head together. Taking out world No. 1 Hewitt on Friday and Arthurs in the deciding match is a monumental achievement. "Nicolas has played the best tennis of his life," Forget said.

Forget had awful memories of France's home loss to Australia in the '99
Davis Cup finals, so he was ebullient.

"Two years later, you are back in Australia against probably even a better
team on grass, against the No. 1 player in the world and you know your
chances are even smaller. And then you pull off a win. It's just very, very
special."

Fitzgerald and his boys will have a few months to try to digest the loss.
"We gave it our best shot but the French played unbelievable tennis over
three days," Fitzgerald said. "I'm hurting right now, we're all hurting. If
you weren't hurting then there's something wrong. This loss will stay with us
a long time."