DAVIS CUP FINALS

November 28, 2021

Jan-Lennard Struff

Team Germany

Press Conference

J. STRUFF/D. Novak

7-5, 6-4

Austria - 1

Germany - 1

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Could I ask for your reflections, please?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: Yeah, I mean, match was pretty tough going out there. 0-1, yeah, it was a bit pressure on me, but I think I handled it pretty well today.

I went in very aggressive style from first point on, and I think that was the big key to the win today.

Q. Talking about pressure, do you enjoy sort of playing with that pressure? Obviously one down. Do you enjoy that pressure?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: Yeah, I mean, it's special to play for Germany. There is always pressure in playing tennis, I think. There is no match without any pressure. I mean, you put pressure on yourself or some circumstances are putting pressure on you, but to play for Germany is obviously one of the biggest pressures you can get, because you want to win for your country.

I think you see it in every match which is played, there is a lot of tension everywhere. But I dealt with it pretty well today, and I'm very, very happy about this.

Q. Germany has a formidable doubles pair. We saw that last night. How much would it mean for the team to reach the quarterfinals? How would it mean to get to the last eight?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: Yeah, I mean, it means a lot. Possible to play Great Britain. It will be very, very nice to play them. Now we have a very important match out there, so I don't think about this. I just think about we have a very, very good doubles who beat Djokovic/Cacic yesterday. Austria has a very good doubles, as well, Oswald/Marach. Very good players. So it's tough match. I will be there supporting and screaming from outside.

Let's see how the match will go. It's very important. We want to go to quarters, definitely.

Q. You were just saying about you played with an aggressive style. When you go into a Davis Cup match, is it a completely different mindset to the way you play a regular tournament?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: No, no, it's very important. Sometimes it's different because it's a team event. Yeah, today I knew I had to be aggressive. It was a bit anger from yesterday that I didn't play and perform the level I wanted, so I felt like to put a bit more energy. I knew Dennis is a very good player. His ranking doesn't say how good he is, so I knew I have to be very aggressive and get top of him.

In the first game, I managed to do this, what Djokovic did to me yesterday, to break me. It was, yeah, very big thing. Yeah, good key to win the match.

But as well like at 5-4, when he broke me, I managed to stay calm and aggressive same time, and to break him back to 6-5, which was very important, as well.

Q. You talked about the pressure and all that. How do you handle that pressure? Is it something that you just want to be a bit quiet before a match, or how do you approach one of these matches?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: Depends a bit. Sometimes I like to be quiet for myself. Yesterday I had too many thoughts in my head before the Djokovic match.

Today I'm not sure. I was nervous, definitely. But I had a big commitment today.