IN November, the 2021 Davis Cup takes place across three cities in Europe as 18 teams aim to lift the ultimate international men’s team prize. Six groups of three sees the group winner automatically advancing to the knockout quarter finals, with the two next best nations also moving through. In the lead-up to the event, Rookie Me Central will be previewing each of the nations in reverse world ranking order.

GERMANY

Rank: 8th

Captain: Michael Kohlmann

Unfortunately for eighth ranked Germany, the nation’s chances of lifting the Davis Cup trophy aloft went by the wayside once Tokyo Gold Medallist and top ranked talent Alexander Zverev opted out of the tournament last month. The Top 10 star would have pushed world number one Novak Djokovic – one of the few who could – having beaten him in that Olympic semi-final. But without him, the load falls onto Jan-Lennard Struff, whom whilst has a potent serve at times, does not possess the same weapons as Zverev, and certainly not when against Djokovic. He took a set off him at the Australian Open, but is not likely to really worry the Serbian star.

He should have no issues against team Austria though, taking on the “other Novak” in Dennis Novak, and is far more consistent. In many ways, Austria is in a similar boat missing Top 5 star Dominic Thiem, but do not have the same depth as Germany. The Germans have a strong doubles combination in Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, which gives them half a chance if they can win a singles match, but it means one of Dominik Koepfer or Peter Gojowczyk would need to cause an upset over one of the Top 40 ranked Serbians such as Filip Krajinovic or Dusan Lajovic.

If Struff could somehow face one of them and avoid Djokovic, it would give the Germans a better shot, given Djokovic will hardly drop a match to a much lower-ranked opponent very often. Therefore, Germany would be a good chance to just fall short of group-topping, with a win against Austria, but Serbia will likely be a bridge too far. They face Serbia up first which is somewhat anti-climatic, but an upset win on the cards could be something special for the nation.

Prediction: 2nd in Group F

IN A SENTENCE: “Whilst unlikely to progress past the group stage, the Germans do have a good doubles combination, and if they can cause a singles upset outside of Djokovic’s match, then they could produce a boilover.”

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