Sydney (AP) – Germany’s men’s tennis boss Michael Kohlmann doesn’t believe in comparing the ATP Cup and the Davis Cup.
“The ATP Cup is more or less an individual competition disguised as a team competition,” Kohlmann told the German press agency before the start of the ATP Cup on January 1st in Sydney. For example, the German team boss at the ATP Cup has no influence on the nomination of the team. Instead, the players themselves register for the competition, which will be held for the first time in 2020.
For Germany, this time Olympic champions Alexander Zverev and Jan-Lennard Struff are going to start for the two singles and Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz for the doubles. Yannick Hanfmann acts as a substitute. Dominik Koepfer, actually an integral part of the team, is going to the ATP tournament in Melbourne to gain practice before the Australian Open. “If Alexander and Struffi say that they all want to play singles, then Dominik could only have trained here,” said Kohlmann.
The German team will meet Great Britain on January 2nd. Other opponents are Canada and the USA. The winners of the four groups advance to the semi-finals.
Even if the Davis Cup is more important to Kohlmann, he also wants to be successful with the team at the ATP Cup. “I think we have good chances with this line-up,” said Kohlmann. Most recently, Germany had reached the semi-finals in the final round of the Davis Cup – without Zverev.
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