Arthurs laments Aussie loss

France won the Davis Cup for the ninth time

Wayne Arthurs was left "unbelievably disappointed" by his four-set defeat by Nicolas Escude in the deciding rubber of the Davis Cup final.

The Australian was thrown into the biggest match of his life when Pat Rafter pulled out with an arm injury, but the big-serving left-hander failed to come up with victory.

"It was mixed emotions for me. I was very excited about it, to be called up for the fifth rubber," said Arthurs.

There's a part of me that feels very proud of what I did out there today

Wayne Arthurs

"It's any tennis player's dream to be out there in front of a partisan Australian crowd.

"You couldn't ask for anything more in your tennis career and I'm just unbelievably disappointed that I didn't get the job done."

Arthurs, ranked 64th in the world, hadn't played Davis Cup singles for Australia since April last year.

Escude, on the other hand, had never been beaten in Davis Cup singles, claiming the scalp of Australia's world number one Lleyton Hewitt on Friday.

"There's a part of me that feels very proud of what I did out there today," said Arthurs.

"But there's also the tennis side of myself that's very, very disappointed for the whole team."

Meanwhile, Australia captain John Fitzgerald is refusing to accept blame for his controversial doubles selection, which ultimately cost his side the title.

Doubles specialists Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge were replaced by Hewitt and Pat Rafter, who lost to Cedric Pioline and Fabrice Santoro.

Lleyton Hewitt levelled the tie for Australia

"Everyone's a genius in retrospect, but I stand by our decision but you've got to understand the French played unbelievable tennis over the past three days," said Fitzgerald.

"We're all hurting and this loss will stay with us a long time."

Hewitt gave Australia hope with victory over Sebastien Grosjean to level at 2-2 but Rafter was forced to pull out an hour before the decider.

"We took a risk in doubles and it didn't work, but it was a risk we had to take," said Rafter.

"I knew I probably only had one more match left in me so we decided to go for it but it didn't come off."