Germany’s hopes rest on Koepfer alongside Struff at the Davis Cup season opener in Hungary. He says he has his long-term arm problems under control at the moment. But he is still in pain
Tape strips on his left knee are supposed to alleviate the pain, the problems with his left hitting arm have been an issue for a long time – but Dominik Koepfer will play as a substitute for Alexander Zverev in the Davis Cup duel in Hungary. “Something always hurts,” said the 29-year-old tennis pro from the Black Forest in Tatabánya: “I think if you ask the ten players here, everyone has some kind of pain.”
He trains without painkillers. When it goes over five sets at Grand Slam tournaments like the recent Australian Open, he has had to take “a little something for his knee, but nothing too bad”, explained Koepfer with a grin: “Everyone who goes out on Friday night takes them on Saturday morning to get rid of the hangover. But it’s all good. Everything is really good with the body at the moment. I’m glad that I can train fully again.”
His ankle on his foot has healed again after he tore ligaments at the US Open last September. However, he is having a bit of trouble with his knee. “But that’s normal, every tennis player has them.”
His arm problems have been with him for around two years. “I’ve got the arm under control. I’m also serving better now because I can serve again in training. That wasn’t the case in the last one and a half or two years, when I only served in matches and not at all otherwise,” explained Koepfer.
The world number 60 will play the first singles match for the German tennis team against Fabian Marozsan on Friday. Koepfer moved up from substitute player to singles player alongside Jan-Lennard Struff after Zverev withdrew due to a viral infection. Koepfer had lost to Zverev in the first round at the Australian Open and reached the semi-finals in the doubles together with Yannick Hanfmann.