The German Davis Cup team won 3-1 against Australia and is in the quarter-finals. Alexander Zverev secured the decisive point against Nick Kyrgios.
Three weeks ago, he sneaked away from the Centre Court of the Melbourne Grand Slam Festival three weeks ago after the next five-set disaster in the Australian Open quarter-finals against South Korea’s Hyeon Chung. And probably Alexander Zverev also asked himself the probing, pressing question when he would win one of the big, groundbreaking, really important tennis matches. One with which he could also give a great tailwind to his great ambitions.
The answer was quickly given by Zverev, in the Davis Cup of all things, which so many in the tennis world mistakenly consider to be a rather outdated and rather dusty event, a competition from yesterday. Zverev stood proudly and radiantly in the Pat Rafter-Arena in Brisbane on the first Sunday of February, wrapped himself up in the German flag in a rush of success, tapped his heart with his fist – and then danced happily with his team-mates to celebrate the 3-1 victory down under.
Zverev’s 6-2,7-6,6-2 win over Nick Kyrgios was also Germany’s victory, a win to the quarter-finals with lots of finite moments and feelings.
Finally a victory in the opening round of the World Group, for the first time since 2014. Finally no annoying relegation fight, no state of suspension in the elevator between first and second division. Finally hope for more than comforting words for a better tennis future. Finally the performance of a well-practised, perfectly harmonising and friendly double – with the “TimundStruffi”-combination of Tim Pütz from Frankfurt and Jan Lennard-Struff from East Westphalia.
And finally also a Zverev in Siegerpose, a man who was able to cope with the massive nerve pressure, who grew with the size of the task and distinguished himself as a leading player. The victory, said Boris Becker, the head of the department, is a “message to other nations that Germany can be reckoned with”.
Of course, it was a victory for a functioning team. But one could not avoid the fact, however, how irreplaceable a strong and self-confident leading player like Zverev is for these moments of victory. A brilliant, nervous number 1 makes things easier in competitive matches, which has always been the case, even in Germany’s golden age – at the end of the 1980s with Becker. And a little later with Michael Stich.
For Zverev, the trip to Brisbane could also bring a knowledge gain, in the tradition of Beckers and Stichs – namely that the Davis Cup does not hinder an individual’s career, but rather promotes it.
And that he can, by the way, also bring in a lot of sympathy from a German tennis community that has not been unreservedly behind him so far. Zverev wants to be right in the middle of the Davis Cup action, on the international stage, he has already declared his guarantee for the start of the quarter-finals at the beginning of April either against Spain or Great Britain:”We don’t want to stop here yet,”he said after the victory against Kyrgios,”we have a team that can go a long way”.
Brisbane, this opening success, also showed that the weights and perspectives of the German selection teams are shifting a little bit. During the new Fed Cup coach Jens Gerlach with a B squad to Belarus for the first round game (10. and 11 February) without the former team supporters Kerber, Görges, Petkovic and Lisicki, team boss Michael Kohlmann has a more than respectable pool of Centre Court-power. Especially if you have the option to use Philipp Kohlschreiber, Mischa Zverev, Maximilian Marterer or Florian Mayer for the next round. Kohlmann, who for a long time was more likely to be the manager of the shortage, is actually more likely to be spoilt for choice – not a choice that is full of anguish. Looking ahead to the next round, Hagen’s bank director said that Brisbane had “demonstrated the quality of beating large nations abroad, too”.
This is also helped by the fact that everyone involved in the team has come to terms with each other without jealousy and vanity. Becker, the champion of former Davis Cup days, radiates a superordinate authority that in no way interferes with the direct concerns of Kohlmann, the captain. The 50-year-old master player is rather the man who, with his presence, reminds us of the fascination this Davis Cup can have, he is a motivating force through himself. Kohlmann is the integrating personality, the unpretentious worker – but also the motivating, inciting, always and again encouraging helper for the players in the match.
The Germans are doing well, after this victory in Brisbane, after many years of deprivation and disappointment, after the continuously missed chances. Good players, a good result, good prospects. Finally.