tennis
German Davis Cup team travels to China for group stage
The German tennis men play their group games in China. photo
© Boglarka Bodnar/MTI/AP/dpa
The USA, Slovakia and Chile are the next German Davis Cup opponents. The venue: China.
The German tennis men have to make it to the group stage in the Davis Cup Travel China. In Zhuhai, the German Tennis Association’s selection will face the USA, Slovakia and Chile, as the draw in London revealed. The group phase will take place from September 10th to 15th with 16 nations.
“The Zhuhai venue is not ideal for all the countries in our group,” said team boss Michael Kohlmann: “It will be a huge effort, especially for players who go far at the US Open, because the first match day is on Tuesday.” The US Open in New York, the third Grand Slam tournament, does not end until September 8th. China is the only venue in this phase of the competition outside of Europe. Bologna, Manchester and Valencia are also the venues.
Goal: Finals in Málaga
The best two teams in the four groups will qualify for the final round of the prestigious team competition, which will be held in Malaga in November. Davis Cup team boss Kohlmann’s German team is seeded as group leaders in Group C. “You can only speculate at the moment as to how the nations will line up. But based on our successes in recent years, this is a group composition in which it should be our goal to reach the finals in Málaga,” said Kohlmann.
Without Olympic champion Alexander Zverev, the German tennis men reached the group phase in Hungary at the beginning of February. The team beat the hosts 3-2 in the qualifying round in Tatabánya.