LILLE, France - Roger Federers valiant attempt to shake off a back injury backfired spectacularly when the Swiss 17-time Grand Slam champion was swept aside by Gael Monfils Friday as France levelled the Davis Cup final at 1-1 on Friday. Tigers Jerseys 2019 .Monfils triumphed 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 and posted his first win on clay over Federer, who decided to play despite the injury that forced him to pull out of the title match at the ATP Finals last Sunday.Federer had only two short training sessions earlier this week and looked out of sorts while Monfils hit 44 winners including 10 aces. The Swiss, who is chasing a maiden win in the team competition, dropped his serve five times and could not convert the two break points he earned.It was a stark contrast to Federers superb display in London last week, where he eased past opponents but hurt his back during his semifinal victory over Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka. Federer, however, said switching from hard court to clay and being short of practice was the main reason for his loss, rather than pain.Clearly I did feel, not having hit and played and moved at all for five days, and Gael did play well, he said. Its not like I couldnt play at all. It was a proper match, and he was the better player at the end.Federer believes he needs to spend more time on court to rediscover his game and is ready for Saturdays doubles.I would be ready to do that if ever its the best choice, the 33-year-old said. As I said before, Im waiting for better things this weekend. Im coming out of the match without any pain, which is good, too. It was not a five setter with me totally exhausted.Earlier, Wawrinka had put the Swiss ahead by beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.Monfils sealed his win in less than two hours on his first match point with a backhand down the line, getting a measure of revenge after his tough loss to the Swiss in the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open, when the Frenchman lost in five sets after going up two sets to one and failing to convert two match points.That helped me a lot. At the U.S. I changed my game plan, I was like very close. I was like dominating him most of the match. Then maybe I had little nerves at the end, Monfils said. Today was a bit of the same, but I played much better, I had a different game plan and I delivered a more aggressive tennis.If Federer plays the doubles, he will be teaming up with Wawrinka. The Australian Open champion started strong against Tsonga and overcame a second-set lapse by regaining control of the opening singles match with an aggressive display that paid off.Wawrinka, who scored 25 points at the net, closed out the match with a winning volley, then pointed to his head with his index finger, his trademark celebration gesture.My strength is playing aggressive, I could not win that match staying on the baseline, he said. I had to come forward.Wawrinka took control of rallies with his deep groundstrokes. He converted his second break point for a 3-1 lead as he won eight consecutive points and took the Frenchmans serve again.Tsonga had to fight hard in the opening game of the second set to hold after saving another break point with a fierce smash before one of the 27,432 spectators — a record for a Davis Cup match — shouted Crybaby, cry, a reference to the word reportedly yelled by Federers wife at Wawrinka last weekend during the ATP Finals semi between the Swiss pair.Wawrinka did not react but his play dropped off while Tsonga started to serve better. He put the Swiss under pressure in the fourth game with a series of good returns and Wawrinka handed him the break with a double fault.Tsonga stayed in control to level the tie at one set apiece but showed his nerves in the sixth game of the third set, hitting three unforced errors including a double fault to drop his serve.The fourth-ranked Swiss continued to put Tsonga on the back foot by taking all the risks on his opponents second serve and broke immediately with another superb backhand at the start of the fourth set. He frustrated Tsonga with a series of backhand and forehand winners in the seventh game as the Frenchman dropped his serve again.Switzerland is bidding for its first Davis Cup title, while France is seeking its 10th. This is the 13th meeting between the teams, with France leading 10-2. Detroit Tigers Shirts . Canadas 5-1 loss to Finland in the semifinal ranks as the tournaments most-watched game with a record 2.7 million viewers, the largest ever for a World Juniors game played outside of North America, and winning Saturday as the most-watched program on Canadian television. Stitched Tigers Jerseys . A player confirmed to TSN on the condition of anonymity that he received his ballot yesterday. Another confirms hes been told to expect his shortly. "The unions executive committee insists a strike vote does not mean were pushing away from the table," the player said. "But we want the league to know were serious about our position. https://www.cheaptigers.com/ . NORRIS COLE (Heat): Its funny, you watch a guy play and now really produce and it just jumps off the page at you - why? You put a young player with potential in a winning environment where there is veteran leadership, outstanding coaching and management and a way that things are done and its a wonderful environment for growth, improvement in a climate of constant accountability and expectation of achievement/production.LOS ANGELES -- UFC President Dana White is "thrilled" by the Association of Ringside Physicians call for the elimination of testosterone replacement therapy in mixed martial arts. White still believes the UFC cant be solely in charge of eliminating steroid users from its bouts, saying government athletic commissions should close the TRT loophole permanently. "The doctors came out and said they want to ban it? Well, thats the answer," White told The Associated Press on Monday. "Its legal in the sport. The commissions let you do it. You get an exemption, and you have to be monitored and all the stuff thats going on, but if theyre going to do away with it? There you go. Its a problem solved." The ARP is an association of ringside doctors involved in boxing and MMA -- the so-called combat sports. The organizations consensus statement calls for the elimination of therapeutic use exemptions for testosterone, a thorny issue in MMA circles for years. "Steroid use of any type, including unmerited testosterone, significantly increases the safety and health risk to combat sports athletes and their opponents," the ARPs statement said. "TRT in a combat sports athlete may also create an unfair advantage contradictory to the integrity of sport." Several UFC fighters in recent years have been given exemptions by athletic commissions to use synthetic testosterone before their bouts, including veteran stars Chael Sonnen, Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort and Frank Mir. The exemptions were granted ostensibly for medical reasons, including a supposed deficiency in naturally occurring testosterone caused by hypogonadism -- a diminished function of the gonads. Well before the ARP added its influential voice to the chorus against TRT, many medical professionals have questioned the legitimacy of such exemptions, particularly for professional cage fighters. "The incidence of hypogonadism requiring the use of testosterone replacement therapy in professional athletes is extraordinarily rare," the ARPs statement said. "Accordingly, the use of an anabolic steroid such as testosterone in a professional boxer or mixed martial artist is rarely justified." White knows the UFCs next showdown with TRT use is imminent, and he hopes the Nevada State Athletic Commission wont grant an exemption to Belfort, who is scheduled to fight Chris Weidman for the middleweight tittle in Las Vegas later this year. Wholesale Tigers Jerseys. . The 36-year-old Belfort, who failed a steroid test in Nevada several years ago, has improbably revitalized his career with three spectacular stoppage victories in his native Brazil. Belfort knocked out the 43-year-old Henderson with a head kick in the first round last November in Goiania, Brazil, earning a title shot. Belfort has been open about his TRT use for the past year, while Henderson has acknowledged it for several years. "He drives me crazy, and me and Vitor were not on good terms a few months ago," White said. "Just because this whole TRT thing, I think, is unfair, and I said were going to test the living (daylights) out of him (during training). And we have, and he has complied, and he has been within the limits hes supposed to have." Although the UFC tests its fighters when they sign contracts and adds additional in-house testing before certain fights, White said hes wary of completely stepping in front of government regulators on the issue. When the UFC stages fight cards in areas with no appropriate athletic commission, the promotion acts as its own regulator. "We couldnt be more proactive," White said. "Drugs hurt us. Hurts our sport. Let alone our perception in the media and everything -- it destroys great athletes. Drugs destroy great athletes, because once you start on them, you can never get off them. Youre on them for the rest of your career." Other prominent fighters believe the UFC should be doing more. Georges St. Pierre, the UFCs longtime welterweight champion before stepping away from the sport late last year, re-ignited the public discussion of drug testing in MMA earlier this month with criticism of the UFCs current testing policies, calling them ineffective and beatable. St. Pierre believes performance-enhancing drugs are still a major problem in MMA. Tim Kennedy, a rising UFC middleweight and former Army Green Beret, hailed Mondays statement from the ARP in a post on his Twitter account: "So the Association for Ringside Physicians supports elimination of TRT in MMA, the fighters want it gone. Only the cheaters want to keep it." UFC middleweight Bubba McDaniel echoed Kennedys sentiments in a post on his Facebook fan page: "If you have abused Steroids so long that you need TRT to remain normal. Your time is up because youve CHEATED long enough!!" ' ' '