When the age group over 60 is jumping in circles, something must have happened. Klaus Eberhardt, long-time sports director of the German Tennis Association (DTB), and fitness coach Carlo Thränhardt spun on a special day with the young people on their team, which celebrated a great victory. With a 2-1 win over the British, the German tennis players landed in the semi-finals of the Davis Cup for the first time since 2007, and although the current Davis Cup is a different competition than it used to be, this day will be one for everyone who was there Be a memory for life.
National coach and captain Michael Kohlmann also hopped along, a happy counterpoint to the nerve-wracking hours he had previously spent on the German bench. At first a little worried about the outright defeat of Peter Gojowczyk, whom he had set up in the Innsbruck quarter-finals instead of Dominic Koepfer, against Dan Evans. But given the impressively strong performance of Jan-Lennard Struff in the win against Cameron Norrie (7: 6, 3: 6, 6: 2), number twelve in the world rankings, confidence rose pretty quickly, and the great, exciting rest was done by Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz in doubles.
As in the preliminary rounds against Serbia and Austria, it was this double that counted, and it was even more exciting than the result against Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski would lead you to believe (7: 6, 7: 6). Twice tiebreakers, the first one the Germans won 12:10, and in the second they didn’t let themselves be disturbed by a 0-5 deficit. With the impressive support of the team colleagues, who, under the guidance of Struff, gave everything on the bench with hats and masks and cheered every point. They always managed to drown out the British shouts – even Dan Evans’, which was no mean feat. Joy and jubilation erupted after the last point of the game, a picture book return from Pütz.
You can rely on this double: Kevin Krawietz (r.) And Tim Pütz
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Image: dpa
He had no idea how they would have torn things up after they were 5-0 down, said Krawietz afterwards, “but we just said to ourselves: Play one point at a time, maybe we’ll still have a chance. And then we did it; Tennis is just a crazy game sometimes. ”Frankfurt expert Tim Pütz would not disagree, who has won every single one of his seven doubles since his debut in the Davis Cup four years ago, the first four together with Struff and the three in Innsbruck with Krawietz .
You can rely on this double, there is no doubt about it, and in the new, much-criticized mode of the Davis Cup with only two singles (previously four), that is a doubly good feeling, also for the captain. The day after the victory against the British, the whole, in a good mood, flew to Madrid, where the semi-finals are on the program on Saturday. Madrid was the minimum goal, says Michael Kohlmann, whose contract the DTB recently extended, “but the way we presented in Innsbruck, we can also calculate a lot against Russia or Sweden. I am super happy. “
The Russians with Daniil Medvedev, Andrej Rublev and Aslan Karatsew are favorites against the Swedes with the brothers Mikael and Elias Ymer and doubles specialist Robert Lindstedt in the last quarter-finals this Thursday. And somehow it would be fitting if the Germans played against the Russians again in their first semi-final after more than a decade. Like the last two attempts in Moscow in 2007 and 1995, which are fairly present for a variety of reasons. 2007 was the year in which Alexander Waske and Philipp Petzschner played a heroic double and won Waske’s elbow despite a serious injury, which was not enough in the end, because Tommy Haas was no longer number one with a serious stomach upset on the last day .
Well, and in 1995 the last joint appearance of Boris Becker and Michael Stich in the Davis Cup on the watered course of the Moscow Olympic Hall, when the two lost in five sets after victories at the start in doubles, Becker no longer played on the last day and Stich the decisive one Lost game against Andrei Tschesnokow 12:14 in the fifth set. After nine match balls were missed with a double fault; the memory of it still hurts today. The Moscow Olympic Hall was a madhouse on those days in September 26 years ago, emotions of a similar kind are probably not to be expected at the weekend in the Madrid Arena without the participation of the Spaniards. On the whole, at least not; perhaps even on a small scale with other joyful dances.
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