While world No. 3 Alexander Zverev will be absent from the Davis Cup Finals, Jan-Lennard Struff is poised to take over as Germany's No. 1 player. Zverev has made it plain that he does not approve of the new Davis Cup structure, and he has decided to withdraw from the competition.
“I have played the most ties and have the most experience in the team,” said Struff. “For me, I learned so many things from Philipp and others when I was coming into the team. It was motivating for me to see the other guys practice at team events. I enjoyed it so much. There are so few team events and so often on tour you are alone. I got something from these guys, now it is my responsibility to give something back. This is how teams work, while I have played some really good matches as the No. 1 player. We have a great team with great players, a great captain and a great team behind us. We have also had a great atmosphere the last few years. I remember in 2018, we beat Australia in Brisbane, and for a long time they had not lost a home tie, while of couple a months later we played an incredible tie against Spain in Valencia. It’s been building for a while now and it’s always fun to be with these guys”.
At the 2019 Davis Cup Finals, Germany advanced past the group stage before losing to Great Britain. Struff added, “We had a very good week in Madrid in 2019, I played pretty well there, as did the whole team,” added Struff. “Philipp [Kohlschreiber] was there playing as No.2 and was amazing, while we played really good doubles also. It was very tough to lose against Great Britain. My match against [Dan] Evans was a very good one and very close. I was hoping we could go to the semis and play Spain at their home tournament, but it wasn’t to be. It has been a long time since we qualified and we now have some different team members, but we're ready to go. We have a very tough group, but we’re motivated and we want to go far. We’re motivated to do that”.