The score in tennis flashed, as usual in large city halls, from the scoreboard under the roof. But the 4000 spectators in the Trier Arena could also read the interim result on Alexander Zverev’s shoulders early on Saturday evening. Head bowed, arms hanging, looking down after the first sentence. Then a noticeable tightening – almost a gasp – just before the tie-break of the second round, before the shoulders started to sag again.
Alexander Zverev, a 1.98 meter tall apparition, is not a person who can easily hide his state of mind. And so his statements ultimately agreed with the constitution and the result, 2: 6, 6: 7 (4) against the Swiss Marc-Andrea Hüsler: “As bitter as it is: there will be such matches in the process in which I am,” he said. “And it probably won’t be the last.”
As brilliant as Zverev’s performance in the German Davis Cup team was the night before when he defeated three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka (6: 4, 6: 1), he left the audience at a loss after the lost performance against Wawrinka’s colleagues Husler, 26, back. Zverev, who recently recovered from his serious foot injury, is still looking for consistency eight months after the accident. On Friday, the 25-year-old had kept the German Tennis Association (DTB) team in the qualifying round against Switzerland with a thrilling performance and equalized the 1-1 match record: He then spoke enthusiastically of the “best game since my return”. . On Saturday, when he lost to Hüsler, it heralded the 3-2 defeat of the national tennis team.
Debutant Altmaier delivers a courageous fight
Because now the decision in the last match lay with the debutant in the DTB team, 24-year-old Daniel Altmaier. And after three self-sacrificing sentences (3:6, 7:5, 4:6) he had to bow to the veteran Wawrinka, “Stan the Man”, as he is called in the scene. Wawrinka is now 37 years old and hasn’t played for the Confederates for eight years. But the Swiss team captain, Severin Lüthi, hoped that his return would provide “motivation and inspiration” for the otherwise very young team. And the fabulous one-armed backhand that Wawrinka whirled along the line in his third match within two days before the match point was also still reliable against the deeply depressed Altmaier, number 91 in the world rankings. Altmaier has nothing to reproach himself for, said German team captain Michael Kohlmann: “He left everything on the pitch.”
He couldn’t prevent the defeat either: Daniel Altmaier lost after three self-sacrificing sets (3:6, 7:5, 4:6) against veteran Stan Wawrinka.
(Photo: Paul Zimmer/Imago)
It was the first defeat against Switzerland for the DTB team in the history of the Davis Cup. The German team captain Kohlmann must now lead the team, which has always reached the final round, into the relegation round in September. “We expected more,” admitted Kohlmann.
In Trier, in front of an enthusiastic audience and despite the support of Boris Becker, who was invited as a “friend of the team”, it was shown again that German tennis depends on Alexander Zverev in top form if it wants to win the big silver cup again. Jan-Lennart Struff was injured this time; and Oscar Otte from Cologne lost to Hüsler in a game in which he missed too many chances.
Double player Pütz wins the thirteenth of 14 matches
For Davis Cup captain Michael Kohlmann, the greatest reliability factor in the German team has been in doubles for years: whoever he nominates, success is almost guaranteed – at least if Kohlmann makes sure that Tim Pütz takes over a part. The Frankfurt doubles specialist, 34 years old, played his fourteenth Davis Cup match on Saturday and won 13 of them. At his side this time was Andreas Mies, 32, also a specialist and a congenial partner as a two-time French Open triumphant. Mies had taken over the part of his long-term colleague Kevin Krawietz at very short notice, who had apologized for the birth of his child, and apparently felt comfortable in the hustle and bustle of the horns and drums in the hall (“It was awesome to play here”).
In the three-set win over the Swiss doubles Stan Wawrinka/Dominic Stricker (6:7, 6:3, 6:4), the replacement Pütz/Mies harmonized from the start. The division of roles also worked: after the lost tie-break, Mies took over the task of the animator, who spurred on the audience. Pütz, according to his own statements “a quieter person” was silent and reliably scored volleys.
When they next appear in September in doubles they will probably have to try to prevent the team from being relegated from the world group.