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DAVIS CUP FINALSNovember 22, 2019Michael KohlmannDominik KoepferJan-Lennard StruffPhilipp KohlschreiberAndreas MiesKevin KrawietzParis, France GREAT BRITAIN 2, Germany 0 EDMUND/Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-5 EVANS/Struff 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 THE MODERATOR: Okay, guys, questions in English first. Q. Jan-Lennard and Philipp, I would like to ask you and the others as well, the question that many are asking: What do you think of this competition? Is it still the Davis Cup? Is it worthwhile? Is it a good competition? Or what is your thinking? JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: They treated us very well here. I mean, actually, I was thinking, like, that I would go to this event and we'll see what's going to happen. Because I didn't want to say, like, it's a bad event or a good event before I come here and see myself. So I liked a lot of things here, but some things has to be changed, for sure. Like the late matches and stuff and the things with the doubles walkovers. So it depends a bit on schedule today. It's a bit tough for Great Britain tomorrow again to play back-to-back-to-back. It's pretty tough. But in general, I like the event. But it's a bit different than normal Davis Cup I would say. PHILIPP KOHLSCHREIBER: Well, I think it's -- I played a couple of Davis Cups before, and yeah, it's a completely different event for me. We had just a few German fans with us all the time, which we are very happy that they're here. But we always felt like -- well, not playing at home, you don't have this advantage, you don't have this -- for me it was a different atmosphere and different feeling on court. But, you know, we still play all for Germany. This is always very special. It doesn't matter, you can put us, I don't know, on the dark side of the moon and we're going to play there for Germany. But yeah, I missed a lot of this special feelings, I have to say. On the other side, I think Kosmos did, in many ways, a good job, great hospitality, good organization. But overall, it's not the same Davis Cup. Q. Would you like to see it go back to something like the old format? PHILIPP KOHLSCHREIBER: Well, I have to be honest, people at the top of tennis, they had some thoughts about changing something because maybe there's something wrong. I am just a player. I have no idea if there's a good sponsorship or media attention is good or bad, I don't know. So it's a lot of politics maybe also. They had to decide something. They came up with, yeah, really complete different style of Davis Cup. I like the tradition. So everything new is special. Q. Kevin and Andreas, how does it feel to play, like, in Davis Cup, being, you know, you have won a Slam? But does it help you out here in your -- are you more confident when you go on the court knowing that you have won a Grand Slam title? ANDREAS MIES: Yeah, of course, when you win a Grand Slam it gives you a lot of confidence going into any event, you know. But this is a new event, it's our first time of playing for our country, and it's a big honor for us. It's a really big thing, you know. We were dreaming of this since we were a little child. And, yeah, but, in the end, we cannot buy anything from the Grand Slam victory, you know. So every tournament starts at zero again. This is completely a different event comparing to the Grand Slam. But, yeah, it was a great experience to be here, to be part of this team. And, hopefully, a few more times in the future, for sure. And, yeah, unlucky that we didn't go through today. But, yeah, there's always a next time, I guess. Q. Commiserations on the loss. Now, there's only three matches here. So this question is for both the captain as well as the players. A lot of cases you find that you're not aware of, like, whom you're going to play. So how do you plan in terms of strategy in terms of head-to-head? You're not sure, like, the No. 1 player or the No. 2 player who turns up. And probably a lot of people would have expected Andy Murray to turn up and play today whereas Kyle Edmund came out. So how do you plan for such changes in players? And how do you compare the best-of-five to best-of-three? Do you think that this makes a huge difference? MICHAEL KOHLMANN: That's for every team the same. I mean, this is the new competition. So you cannot prepare for somebody specific. But if you look at the old style, I mean, just to say something, that it's not so different. On the last day everything could happen as well. You can change nominations until I think it was 30 minutes before the tie on Sunday, I think. I'm not 100 percent sure. But this is the way. I mean, you know, you have to prepare for everything. That's the new situation we are in now. But I don't think that was for us -- for the group stage, you knew the teams. You knew already the draw. If you qualify as the first, you play the winner of England, Kazakhstan, Netherlands. So, I mean, you knew a lot of things already. Obviously, it's always one hour before the tie, which is a little bit different, you know. Before it was on the first day of the draw. So you had to prepare -- you had a little more time to prepare yourself, your team for the special matches or the matchups. But in the end, you are here with your five guys you nominate and that's the team you are working with then. Obviously, there are some head-to-heads maybe. But, yeah, you cannot do anything, you know, because you don't know what the other guys are doing unless Leon would have come to me and tell me, 'Listen, Andy isn't playing.' So that would be a little bit of advantage, but it didn't happen. So, you know, that's it. THE MODERATOR: Questions in German, please. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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