Kohlmann on Davis Cup in China: “More or less nonsense”

Team manager Michael Kohlmann has renewed criticism of the awarding of the Davis Cup group stage to China. “I think that the teams that are here now all agree that it is more or less nonsense to play here,” said the 50-year-old before Germany’s opening match on Tuesday (8:00 a.m. CEST/DF1 and TennisChannel) in Zhuhai against Slovakia. Chile and the USA are the other group members. “We all talked about our travel routes and how difficult it was for some of them to actually get here.”

Long journey for US Open finalists Krawietz and Pütz

“You can’t blame the Chinese and especially the Chinese Tennis Association. They are really trying their best here and I think they have organized it perfectly,” said Kohlmann. He added with regard to the International Tennis Federation (ITF): “I think the ITF has to put up with questions. I think we have made our positions relatively clear. We will have to wait and see what happens next.”

The German team will be competing in China with a severely weakened squad and will have to do without top players Alexander Zverev and Jan-Lennard Struff. Doubles specialists Tim Pütz and Kevin Krawietz are not expected in China until Monday evening after reaching the US Open final. Yannick Hanfmann, Maximilian Marterer and Davis Cup debutant Henri Squire are also part of the team. The goal remains to qualify for the finals in Malaga in November. The first two teams in the group will advance.

This is what the World Tennis Federation says

The Chinese team only plays in the third league of the Davis Cup. Despite this, the Chinese association’s application was accepted for the group phase. When asked by dpa about the criticism, the world association referred to the importance of the Chinese market with more than 20 million players.

“Hosting a Davis Cup final event in China offers the opportunity to further increase growth,” says a spokesman – without addressing specific points of criticism such as the travel strain for four non-Asian teams.