The German Tennis Association has selected Frankfurt am Main as the venue for the Davis Cup home match against Hungary on 1 and 2 February 2019. The qualification game for the final round of the Nations’ Cup, which will be introduced next year, will take place in the Fraport Arena.
For the two-day meeting, a hard court will be installed in the 5,000-seat hall.
After 2014, 2015 and 2017, the German team is thus returning to the metropolis on the Main again. “The central location of the city of Frankfurt and the excellent local conditions have proved their worth for us in recent years. We are looking forward to this important and only Davis Cup home game of the coming year”, says DTB President Ulrich Klaus and adds: “Also due to the commitment of the state of Hesse and especially the Minister of the Interior Peter Beuth, we finally decided on Frankfurt as the venue”.
On site, the German team is looking forward to their appearance. “The entire Sportland Hessen is looking forward to the tennis highlight of the year in Frankfurt. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that our men’s national team will reach the final round of the Davis Cup 2019 against Hungary at the beginning of next year,” says Beuth, who is responsible for the sport.
Captain Michael Kohlmann expects a loud home atmosphere in the Fraport Arena: “Although we lost the last two games in Frankfurt, the atmosphere in the hall was always great,” says Kohlmann. “I hope that we will have our strongest line-up in February – so far all the players have signalled their willingness,” the 44-year-old continues.
According to the ITF statutes, the nomination takes place ten days before the start of the meeting. Germany and Hungary have faced each other five times in the Davis Cup. All in all, Germany leads in a direct comparison with 3:2. The last duel took place in Budapest in 1978, when Hungary won 3:2.
With a victory in Frankfurt, Michael Kohlmann’s team would qualify for the Davis Cup final round of the best 24 teams, which is currently scheduled to take place from 18 to 24 November in Madrid. The new format was adopted by the ITF General Assembly in August and continues to be criticised by many top international players and various associations, including the German Tennis Federation.
In February a total of 22 other teams will fight alongside Germany and Hungary to qualify for the one-week final. The games will only be played over two instead of three days, all matches will be played over two winning sets. The twelve winners of the preliminary round, the four semi-finalists 2018 (France, Spain, Croatia, USA) and two wildcard holders (Argentina and Great Britain) will then play out the Davis Cup winner.
Ticket sales for the match between Germany and Hungary in Frankfurt (1 and 2 February) will begin shortly.