Beating the Americans five years ago was very special for the French. Defeating host Sweden in two nerve-sapping, five-set marathons Sunday was magical.
"It's just unbelievable! It was my dream to win as a player," French hero Arnaud Boetsch said after he outlasted Swedish reserve Nicklas Kulti in a 4-hour, 47-minute thriller 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 10-8 in the decisive fifth and final match Sunday."Five years ago I was on the team, but I didn't play. I was supporting my friends and trying to do my best for them," he said. "This time I was playing and I was on the court. It was a big honor for me to be there.
"To win this match like that after facing three match points . . . it's like a dream for me. It's magic."
Yannick Noah, the former French star and captain of both championship teams in the 1990s, agreed.
"I never thought the last day would go that far really, with so much emotions, great tennis, unbelievable atmosphere and the last match going to the fifth set.
"Here it was another dimension, and I just feel very priviliged that I was there to experience the guys doing that for the team. Sometimes you're lucky enough to see it once, but to experience what happened today was amazing. It's hard to put it into words."
Boetsch faced triple match point when trailing 0-40 and 6-7 in the fifth set, but saved them all as Kulti was struggling with severe cramps in his thigh at the end.
"I was just trying to serve better," Boetsch said. "I hit a few good first serves and maybe he was tight. I was just focusing on my game, trying to win every point, and I did it."
Between changeovers, Swedish captain Carl-Axel Hageskog was working on Kulti's legs. But it didn't help.
Kulti dropped his serve to fall behind 9-8, and then Boetsch went up 40-0, triple match point, on his own serve. Kulti fought off the two first, but then hit a forehand long that clinched France's eighth Davis Cup victory.
In the 1991 final, France beat the United States 3-1 in Lyon, France. The last match was not played.
France won six straight Davis Cup titles between 1927 and 1932 during the great era of the renowned "Four Musketeers."
Sunday's final two matches - they both went to five sets and together lasted more than nine hours - was one of the most dramatic last days in Davis Cup finals history. Never before had the last two matches each gone to extended fifth sets with the victory still in doubt.
It proved how great the team competition that Dwight F. Davis of St. Louis started in 1902 can be.
World No. 1 Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, both of whom declined to play Davis Cup for the United States this year, and Boris Becker of Germany have suggested that the team competition should be played every second year because of scheduling conflicts.
Noah doesn't agree.
"What I love about the Davis Cup is that it's not about contracts, it's not about schedule, it's not about business," Noah said. "It's about the team. It's a different thing within the tennis world . . .
"If they don't play, that's too bad," he said of the top players. "We'll just keep winning. If they don't want to play for five years, that would be wonderful."
Kulti substituted for Stefan Edberg, who twisted his right ankle early in the first match Friday, which he lost to Cedric Pioline, the top French player. It proved to be the last match in Edberg's brilliant career that saw him win 41 titles.
Thomas Enqvist set up the Boetsch-Kulti decider when he rallied from two sets down and then 2-5 in the decisive set to beat Pioline 3-6, 6-7 (8-10), 6-4, 6-4, 9-7. The first meeting between the two players lasted 4 hours, 26 minutes.