Krawietz/Pütz remain unemployed
Unhappy tennis team extends waiting time for final in Davis Cup
November 22, 2024, 10:43 p.m
The wait continues: The Davis Cup final will take place without Germany. Because both Jan-Lennard Struff and Daniel Altmaier lose their duels against the Netherlands, the successful double is not used at all.
Jan-Lennard Struff toiled on the hard court in Malaga and fought against the impending defeat with all his might – but it wasn’t enough. After a bitter evening, the German tennis team has to wait for its first Davis Cup title in 31 years. In the semi-finals, Michael Kohlmann’s team lost 2-0 to the very vulnerable Netherlands.
Struff could no longer avert disaster in the second singles of the evening – he lost an intense game 7:6 (7:4), 5:7, 4:6 against Tallon Griekspoor. Daniel Altmaier had previously suffered an annoying 4:6, 7:6 (14:12), 3:6 defeat against Botic van de Zandschulp after a battle of nerves. As in the 2-0 win against Canada in the quarter-finals, the top German pair of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz didn’t even play.
Breathless serve festival
In the absence of top star Alexander Zverev, the DTB team had the chance for the greatest success of the past decades against an opponent at eye level. But as in 2021, when they lost 2-1 to Russia, the final remained a dream. The Netherlands, on the other hand, made it to the final for the first time in the long history of the national event. Now waiting there on Sunday (4 p.m./DAZN) either defending champion Italy around world number one Jannik Sinner or Australia.
Struff and Griekspoor, who served nine aces in the first set alone, demonstrated their respective serving strengths from the start – the rallies usually only lasted a few seconds. The first round was over after just 39 minutes, even though it went the full distance. To the cheers of the German bank, who were always cheering loudly, with the better end for Struff, who kept his nerve in the tiebreak.
Afterwards it remained a breathless service festival. Struff only came close to a break once, but missed both chances. Different Griekspoor, who found an answer to Struff’s service strength shortly before the end of the second round. In the following decisive sentence, the German ran out of steam a little.
Nadal’s conqueror also annoys Altmaier
31 years after Michael Stich led Germany to the title in their last final appearance, Altmaier had made a good start to the final mission. But van de Zandschulp struck at the crucial moment. The world number 80, who inflicted his last defeat on Rafael Nadal on Tuesday, broke 5-4 in a close first set.
To the delight of the fans dressed in orange, who were numerically slightly superior to the around 250 German supporters, the Dutchman quickly took his opponent’s serve in the second set. Altmaier, who was otherwise quite level-headed, abused his tennis bag with his racket during the following break.
And the unusual measure paid off. Kempen, who was then much more emotional, got the hall behind him and fended off four match points in a dramatic tiebreak. In the deciding set, however, he failed to follow up – van de Zandschulp, who was constantly stumbling, converted his ninth match point after 2:42 hours in a real battle of nerves. Previously, the Dutchman had repeatedly forgave miserably at the crucial moment.
