The German tennis players clearly missed the final round of the Billie Jean King Cup. The DTB selection of team captain Rainer Schüttler lost Great Britain 1-2 on Friday and fought against relegation from the world group in November. After the 0: 3 defeat against the Netherlands the previous day, the lost first individual from Jule Niemeier had already sealed the German in qualification group f.
“The English women were too strong,” said Schüttler: “Our goal was very clear that we qualified for the finals. Now we have to go to the relegation. We have to put everything on it that we stay in the first division.”
Dortmundin Jule Niemeier lost 4: 6, 2: 6 in the Hague against the British Sonay Kartal. The former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Niemeier, number 120 in the WTA ranking, quickly went 2-0 against the 60 places, but then missed any consistency. In the first set, Niemeier (25) made four double errors, four times she lost a service game against the kartal in no way.
After the first set, never buried her head under one towel for a long time. In the second round it didn’t get better, again and again Niemeier was looking for the exchange with team boss Schüttler, who persistently talked to her and tried to give her courage.
British demanded against the Netherlands on Saturday
The second individual lost Tatjana Maria (Bad Saulgau) against the British number one Katie Boulter after a strong start with 6: 1, 3: 6, 1: 6. Laura Siegemund/Anna-Lena Friedsam (Metzingen/Neuwied) secured the DTB team at least one point of honor in doubles. From a German point of view, both matches were irrelevant. The new German number one Eva Lys (Hamburg/No. 68 of the world rankings) remained again without deployment after a cold.
On Saturday, the Britishes will fight in a direct duel with the Netherlands for the ticket to the final round in September in Shenzhen in Chinese, and Germans have to play against relegation from the world group in November.
Germany has won the Fed Cup twice, as the competition was called Jean King Cup before the renaming to Billie Jean King: in 1987 and 1992, when Steffi Graf cited the team. Last year at the final round in Malaga in the round of 16 against Great Britain.