MADRID, November 24, 2019
Philipp Kohlschreiber is a veteran on the ATP Tour and recorded his 20th Davis Cup singles match-win by defeating Nicolas Jarry of Chile on Thursday. The 36-year-old also defeated Guido Pella during Germany’s victory over Argentina on Wednesday. Kohlschreiber has contested 21 Davis Cup ties since making his debut in the competition in 2007.
Understandably, international media representatives were interested in Kohlschreiber’s opinion about the inaugural Davis Cup by Rakuten Madrid Finals.
“I played a couple of Davis Cups before and it’s a completely different event for me,” the current World No. 79 said after Germany fell in the quarterfinals to Great Britain on Friday.
“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 not playing at home. You don’t have this advantage. It was a different atmosphere and a different feeling on court but we still play for Germany. This is always very special. It doesn’t matter, you can put us on the dark side of the moon and we’re going to play there for Germany. I missed a lot of this special feeling, 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.”
Halle 2 dank Britischer Fans einigermaßen gefüllt. Das ein oder andere Ticket hätte es allerdings schon noch gegeben… #DavisCupMadridFinals pic.twitter.com/2Sb9UWRTNA
— Florian Heer (@Florian_Heer) November 22, 2019
Asked, if Kohlschreiber wants the Davis Cup go back to the old format, the Augsburg native said: “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 also a lot of politics. They had to decide something. They came up with a complete different style of Davis Cup. I like the tradition. So everything new is special.”
