The ATP Cup is over for Alexander Zverev & Co. The third game against Canada is the second defeat. The end is already certain. This creates problems of motivation.
Sydney: German tennis players missed the semi-finals of the ATP Cup. Olympic champion Alexander Zverev & Co lost to Canada 2-1 in Sydney on Thursday and suffered a second defeat.
A preliminary round elimination was certain even before the match, however, with Great Britain winning 2–1 against the United States in the first game of the day. Because Germany was initially defeated by the British, a victory against Canada would not have been enough to lead to a worse direct comparison with Great Britain.
Instead, Canada now meets Russia on Saturday (7.30 a.m./CET). Spain and Poland will take on each other in the first semi-final on Friday (7.30am/CET).
“It was very tough mentally”
The loss against Canada was already settled after two singles. After Jan-Lenard Struff lost against Denis Shapovalov 6:7 (5:7), 6:4, 3:6 at the start, despite a strong performance, Zverev was replaced on top by Felix Auger-Aliassim 4:6, 6: Had to lose 4 too. Individual, beaten 3:6. It was the first defeat of the new year for the German number one. In the meaningless doubles, Kevin Kravitz and Tim Putz won 6:3, 6:4 against Steven Diez and Breyden Schnoor.
“It was very tough mentally. Because of USA’s defeat half an hour before the Struff game, we were certain we couldn’t move on. Then you don’t play for anything,” Zverev said. “My motivation was not the highest in the first two sets. It was difficult,” admitted the 24-year-old. “We wanted to play well here. We had a chance to win the ATP Cup with the team. Unfortunately we didn’t succeed.”
