The German women are considered outsiders in the Billie Jean King Cup. But the DTB team is feeling confident.
The German women’s tennis team are going into the battle for the final round of the Billie Jean King Cup ambitiously and without fear. “We have often shown recently that anything is possible at the beginning. We are in very good form, very confident,” said Germany’s number one Eva Lys in an interview with SID ahead of the qualifier in The Hague: “I think we have a good chance.”
Team captain Rainer Schüttler’s selection will face the Netherlands and Great Britain on Thursday (starting at 1 p.m.) and Friday (starting at 2 p.m. / both on Tennis Channel), with the winner of the three-team group qualifying for the final round in Shenzhen, China. The German Tennis Association (DTB) team is considered an underdog, but wants to pull off an upset thanks to its team spirit.
Lys leads the German team
“These are the best weeks of the year for us – we can all consider ourselves lucky that we get along so well, and that’s a strength that we’ll take with us into the matches,” emphasized Lys, who rose to become the German number one just a few weeks after her fairytale ‘lucky loser’ trip to the Australian Open.
The 23-year-old from Hamburg heads the squad, which is completed by Laura Siegemund, Tatjana Maria, Jule Niemeier and Anna-Lena Friedsam. Last year, the DTB team failed in the round of 16 against Great Britain. The matches in The Hague will be played on clay.
“We all come from hard courts. Sometimes the first matches on clay are a bit of Russian roulette in terms of how they turn out,” said Lys, but: ‘I’m sure we’ll do well on the surface.’
