No Alexander Zverev, no Jan-Lennard Struff: The German men’s tennis team has to make up for a lot of absences in the group stage of the Davis Cup. There is a debut
The German tennis team is going into the group stage of the Davis Cup with a heavily weakened line-up and will have to do without Jan-Lennard Struff and Dominik Koepfer as well as Alexander Zverev. This was announced by the German Tennis Federation. Struff is still plagued by problems with his hip after his first-round exit at the US Open, while Koepfer will be out for around five weeks with a tendon injury to his hitting arm. Zverev is currently still active at the Grand Slam tournament in New York and will not be available in China from September 10 to 15.
As Daniel Altmaier is currently out of form and will not be in action, the German team will be without its four highest-ranked players in the world rankings. Davis Cup team manager Michael Kohlmann has nominated Yannick Hanfmann, Maximilian Marterer and, for the first time, Henri Squire as well as doubles specialists Tim Pütz and Kevin Krawietz.
“The fact that Jan-Lennard and Dominik, our top players, are out at short notice hurts a lot because both are important parts of this team, not only as players but also as personalities,” said Kohlmann. The task now is to compensate for their absence with “team unity”. “Yannick and Maximilian, who are moving up, have already proven that they can score points for Germany in the Davis Cup. “
It’s all about qualifying for the final tournament
In China, the German team will play in Group C against the USA, Slovakia and Chile. The two best teams in each of the four groups of four will advance to the final tournament in Málaga from November 19 to 24. The 2024 Davis Cup winner will be crowned there.
Struff and Koepfer won the singles points in the qualifiers in Hungary in February. Zverev was absent at the time due to illness.
The group stage in China begins for the German team just two days after the men’s final at the US Open on September 10 against Slovakia. In New York, Struff, Koepfer, Altmaier and Marterer had already been eliminated in the first round, while Hanfmann and Squire had failed to qualify
