Even tennis star Alexander Zverev, who had injured his foot, was unable to stay in his seat. With the 25-year-old as a spectator, the German Davis Cup team won against France for the first time since 1938 – after the doubles the score was 2-1.
First Jan-Lennard Struff won in a match worth seeing against Benjamin Bonzi. Afterwards, Oscar Otte lost the second game, but in the doubles, Tim Pütz and Kevin Krawietz ensured the success cheered by the Hamburg crowd with a 6:2, 3:6, 7:6 (7:1) against Nicolas Mahut and Arthur Rinderknech. “Eighty-four is a long time not to win. It was very happy in the end,” said team captain Michael Kohlmann.
A strong sign for the competition
After the shock of Zverev’s retirement, the German team sent a strong message to the competition at the start of the group finals. “We stayed on, had good support here in the stadium,” said Pütz: “But a bit of luck was involved today.” Doubles partner Krawietz praised, “In the end the atmosphere was unbelievable.”
Otte had missed the chance of an early victory for the German Davis Cup team in the opening match of the group phase. The 29-year-old lost to Adrian Mannarino 4:6 and 3:6.
Jan-Lennard Struff had put the German team in the lead at the start. The Warsteiner defeated Bonzi 6:4, 2:6, 7:5 after defending two match points. “It was a crazy match with many ups and downs. For me it’s the biggest thing to win for Germany and to get the 1-0 lead here,” the 32-year-old said after the 2:14 hour match. “Maybe it was the home advantage that decided it here today.”
With strong volleys and good positional play, the Sauerland native decided the first set in his favour against Bonzi. After a weak phase, he came back into the match in the third set. There he wrestled the world number 53 down with great fighting spirit and took the overall well-deserved victory. Zverev followed the start of the German team from the spectators’ area.
