Davis Cup: The Grace of Earlier Defeat
Some teams that have said goodbye to the final round of the Davis Cup final in Madrid in the quarter-finals can at least console themselves with the prospect of a home match in 2020.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Nov 25, 2019, 07:41 am
Nobody, really nobody wanted to get stuck in the skin of Viktor Troicki on Friday afternoon. Like a handful of misery, the Serbian veteran sat on his bench, after beating him in the deciding double on the side of Novak Djokovic. Multiple times. Djokovic tried to comfort his team-mate, but Troicki took the blame.
Things were not that dramatic in the German team, although Jan-Lennard Struff lost his quarter-final match against Daniel Evans only in the tiebreak of the third set. The doubles were not played out any more, it was a pity, because with Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies team boss Michael Kohlmann would have sent a promising duo to the court.
If you want, you can derive positive things from the defeats of the Serbs, the Germans, but also the Argentines, who were just about to be defeated in the doubles. After the Davis Cup will be played in the next year according to the pattern of 2019, there was a most of these nations at least have the chance to host a home game earlier this year. And that's the way it happened: Germany meets Belarus on March 6 and 7, and the US has lost to Uzbekistan. It did not catch Argentina so well that has to go to Colombia.
Wildcards for Serbia and France
Eventually the Serbs, having lost the not-understandable practice of gifting two teams with a wild card, are back at home. This is what happened in the current year, Argentina and Great Britain, for reasons that are called "Juan Martin del Potro" and "Andy Murray". Del Potro could not compete in Madrid, Murray after all denied a match. And, in 2020, there will be no Davis Cup match in front of the home crowd: With the victory against Germany and the consequent participation in the semi-final, the British are already qualified for the final tournament next year. As naturally also Spain, Canada and Russia. The Serbs, for their part, have been given a fixed place by the ITF for 2020, just like the team from France. The latter will also be responsible for a performance in front of their own fans in the coming year. For a reason that is probably called "Novak Djokovic".