Directly behind the tennis court in a corner of the arena, the Davis Cup is set up on its high base for the games in Malaga. “We can already see the cup, it would be nice if we could play for it again,” said German team captain Michael Kohlmann before the semi-final. Hope remained: the men’s national team lost 2-0 to the Netherlands team on Friday evening and missed out on their first final in 31 years. The team has to make the next attempt next year.
After the final match point in the second singles, Jan-Lennard Struff congratulated his Dutch opponent Tallor Griekspoor at the net, then went into the circle of his colleagues with a sad look. The German doubles, Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz, who had won the ATP finals in Turin just five days ago, could no longer intervene: the lead of the Dutch, who had already seen Spain out of the final round on Tuesday, was after the victories of Botic van de Zandschulp against Daniel Altmaier and Griekspoor against Struff were unassailable. The double was no longer played.
“We showed that we can play among the big teams,” said Kohlmann: “Unfortunately, we didn’t make the big splash.”
Altmaier had nothing to blame against van de Zandschulp; the Dutchman had already ended Nadal’s career
Daniel Altmaier, 26, lost the first, wild singles, but he had little to blame himself for in the duel against van de Zandschulp: the 29-year-old Dutchman who sent the great Rafael Nadal into retirement on Tuesday evening. In fact, van de Zandschulp, number 80 in the world rankings, had almost more trouble finishing the game against Altmaier, number 80, 6:4, 7:6, 6:3 than he did against the Spanish tennis grandee in the quarterfinals. Ten match points were necessary. Altmaier fended off nine, five in the tiebreak of the second set alone.
With a controlled outburst of emotions, Altmaier had awakened his spirit of resistance: after losing the first set and falling behind again in the second, he hit his racket briefly and violently on his own bag when changing sides. After that, he played with more risk and courage, freeing himself from the defense with passing shots, stop balls and net attacks. He won the thrilling tiebreak 14:12, and in the third set he stubbornly fought back until the end.
When Jan-Lennard Struff, the number one of the DTB team, entered the court in the second singles of the evening, from the perspective of the German fan base, everything was at stake. Again it was a duel of equals, because Struff and Griekspoor, a man with a powerful serve, know each other well: They won the Dubai tournament together in doubles in February. Struff, driven by the drums of the supporters in the stands, secured the high-class first set in the tiebreak. It took until 5:6 in the second set before Griekspoor earned the first break of the match. Then in the third round it was little things that tipped the scales in Griekspoor’s favor; he hit 25 aces and Struff hit thirteen that evening. “He finished it really well and didn’t give me another chance,” said Struff after the defeat, 7:6, 5:7, 4:6.
The Netherlands have now reached the final of the 124-year-old team competition for the first time. Germany has won the Davis Cup three times – decades ago at the height of the country’s tennis boom, during the glory days of its most successful players: Boris Becker led a men’s team that defeated Sweden in 1988 and 1989. Wimbledon winner Michael Stich achieved the last Cup victory to date against Australia in Düsseldorf in 1993.
Michael Kohlmann’s team had to do without the world number two, Alexander Zverev, all year long. The collective beat Canada in the quarterfinals and this time came very close to the goal, the heavy silver trophy. “We were very close to making it to the final,” was Kohlmann’s conclusion.
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