Julia Görges brought the German Fed Cup team back into business after their 2-0 win over Karolina Pliskova on Friday. But Angelique Kerber had no chance against Petra Kvitova.
By Jörg Allmeroth from Stuttgart
There was almost an hour in this Stuttgart semi-final when the Fed Cup actually looked like the Fed Cup. It was, to be exact, 55 minutes, it was the time Julia Görges needed to narrow the gap against the Czech Republic to 1:2 on Sunday. Görges played against the world number six Karolina Pliskova at her best, she seemed intoxicated, courageous, courageous. And the spectators in the Porsche Arena were carried away by this inspiring performance of the German number one, it was the typical and extraordinary home game atmosphere, a firework of strong feelings and emotions.
But it was also the big exception this weekend, this victory, this high mood – and a German player who radiated self-confidence, confidence and security. Görges gave her team, herself and the fans hope again after the messed up 2-0 opening day, but the dream of a turnaround, the dream of a comeback miracle did not last long: In the fourth singles of this semi-final match Angelique Kerber failed astonishingly clearly with 2:6 and 2:6 against the two-time Wimbledon queen Petra Kvitova, it was the third, decisive point for 3:1 for the Czech Republic, the end of all German longings. However: This knockout was far more unsatisfactory than the bitter, almost tragic quarter-final elimination of the German Davis Cup men two weeks ago in Valencia.
Kerber, the most successful German player of recent years, was also the most unhappy character in this Fed Cup drama, also the biggest of all German losers. Although she tried everything on the Centre Court of Stuttgart’s Porsche Arena on Sunday, at the moment of the decision, her game lacked the persuasive power that Görges had so impressively conveyed before. With her shoulders drooping, Kerber hurriedly left the hall after the defeat, not even allowing herself to be comforted by her teammates at first.
Before the first rallies, almost everyone in the German camp, by no means out of presumption, declared that this top-class semi-final match against the strong Czech women was a “match at eye level”, a game of distributed chances. But this idea, the idea of a triumph of the strongest German team in many years against the strongest team of that time, turned out to be a dream especially on Saturday – the moodsless, unspectacular defeats of Görges against Kvitova and Kerber against Pliskova were ultimately too heavy a mortgage. The first-round coup of the Germans in Belarus with an embarrassment team, he had great passion, great feelings, produced a veritable euphoria, but the semi-final in Stuttgart, with the returning top players Görges and Kerber, was pale in every respect in the starting phase. The Czech women were immediately determined in this duel, but the Germans appeared like a team that had overslept the start.
It was, beyond the two days of disappointment, possibly a failure with serious consequences for this German generation of women. Because the chances of gold plating personal career success with an outstanding, historic team victory are dwindling for players such as Kerber and Görges. For the second time the Czech women proved to be overwhelming spoilsports in decisive moments, only in 2014 in the Prague final and now in the semi-finals in Stuttgart in 2018. The next match against the Fed Cup superpower from Eastern Europe would take place away again, with even more modest prospects of victory.
Especially as the question arises as to what priority the top German players will give to the international weeks, Kerber and Görges, 30 and 29 years old, must increasingly concentrate their energies in the depleting professional business, on selected events.
If, as in the first round of this season, the two top women were to give up their bets now and then or even for a while, the question arose as to which alternatives would be most effective. Laura Siegemund, last year’s Porsche Grand Prix winner, would certainly be a good representative, a woman who would approach the Fed Cup adventure with great drive and high speed fighting spirit. But after her cruciate ligament injury, the Swabian is just at the beginning of a complicated, imponderable comeback mission.
Others from this generation, such as Andrea Petkovic and Sabine Lisicki, have fallen far behind in the tennis court order, also due to persistent injury problems. What would remain of representative personnel, would be for example the sensational point suppliers of Minsk, the 3:2 first round victory of the Germans, thus Tatjana Maria and Antonia Lottner – or still the Hamburg Carina Witthöft.
But a Fed Cup victory would probably not be conceivable, a victory like 26 years ago with Steffi Graf, Anke Huber and Rittner.