DAVIS CUP FINALS

November 28, 2021

Gavor Koves

Team Hungary

Press Conference

MEKTIC-PAVIC/Marozsan-Nagy

7-6, 6-2

Croatia - 2

Hungary - 1

Q. You spoke at the start of this tournament, quite philosophical about what success would look like for Hungary here in Turin. How do you reflect on the success of your team? Maybe not on the scoreboard but you have the likes of Zsombor producing such great performances, Fabian making his debut and showing that the team can really contest even without the likes of...

GAVOR KOVES: I wish you spoke some Hungarian, because you would have understood what I just said. I said exactly the same thing. To put away the joke, it was an uphill battle for us, each tie. We had a chance to beat Australia, we were really close, probably four or five points away, I'm not sure, and I'm proud of the team obviously.

We put everything out on the court, and we came up a bit short. I think we can be proud. You know, the doubles matches against much higher-ranked players, we were there, we showed up, lost in three against the Aussies, and today these two guys next to me they were two points away to make probably the biggest upset during a set over this weekend here.

And, you know, I'm proud of them. It was really cool. It's always cool to be on court with the Davis Cup, and then such big battles, it makes me feel really proud that the players gave more than 100% really.

Zsombor's match today was amazing against a Grand Slam winner. I was joking with him that he won a Grand Slam also in the juniors, but it's not the same. He was not expected to win this, but he did. He made himself a name, and hopefully he can continue on on the tour and move up in the rankings in the near future.

Q. On Zsombor, what do you think it's going to take for him to make that next step? He's had a taste of what it takes to be on the court with the likes of Marin in this sort of setting. How can he jump where his rankings were to get there? When did you know that Zsombor was going to be No. 1 today?

GAVOR KOVES: First I go with the injury question. Marton came out this morning and he was not even close to 100%. He said that against Marin he needed to be 100% to go in the court and try to win and to avoid injury. We decided that he's gonna be out for this tie.

It's a shame, because he played an unbelievable match yesterday, and also he gave more than 100%, I can say that. You know, he was proud of his performance. Actually, everybody else on the team was, including me.

The first part? Zsombor, sorry. Got it. I'm a little tired.

Zsombor, he needs to get stronger, physically stronger. You could see that his game is there. He has to be more accurate with his serves. He's not a tall guy, but he's got the speed. He's got great vision on the court. He actually knows almost everything from the game. He can improve his volleys, but the most important thing is to be ready physically.

He played two three-set matches today, and he said he's done for the year, which is funny. That's the key. He can play like this one match, but during the tournament if he wants to win it, he has to win five like this, Grand Slam seven, but obviously it's a long way for him to go that far, but I would be happy for him to see him to go to the challenger level and make a name for himself.

He was already in one final last, I mean this month, couple weeks ago, but I think he's got the game, and if he physically can get much, much better, because he's a short guy and not a strong guy, he doesn't show it on the court, I think he can move up in the top 200 maybe next year. But the goal should be that he could do the same what he did today on a continuous basis.

Q. The injury for Marton, was it the ankle again?

GAVOR KOVES: I'm not sure exactly what it was, but he had cramps, and I think his calf was not, not the ankle. The ankle, he had trouble with the ankle, but the calf was at the point where he would play and it was so stiff that it would have been dangerous for him to show up on the court.