Great Britain were said to be “bouncing” ahead of their Davis Cup quarter-final against Germany, and why not? Only a handful of players on the ATP Tour have bettered the 50 match wins accrued by the 12th-ranked Cameron Norrie this season, while in Dan Evans, the world No 25, the British boast one of only six players to have beaten Novak Djokovic in 2021. Throw in Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski, both holders of grand slam doubles titles, and it would be more surprising if Leon Smith’s side – semi-finalists last time out, champions in 2015, quarter-finalists for the sixth time in seven years – were not in ebullient mood.
Yet, as Great Britain have themselves demonstrated often enough in recent years, rankings and records tend to count for little in the Davis Cup. A day that began in auspicious style for Smith’s men was to end in frustration as the German pairing of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz saw off Salisbury and Skupski 7-6 (12-10), 7-6 (7-5) in the decisive doubles rubber, surviving four set points in the opener and recovering from 0-5 down in the second-set tiebreak.
Evans had earlier put the British within touching distance of a semi-final place with a 6-2, 6-1 demolition of Peter Gojowczyk, a late replacement for Dominik Koepfer, but Norrie was unable to find a way past an inspired Jan-Lennard Struff, slipping to a 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-2 defeat.
“I was really disappointed with my level,” said Norrie, who served for the opening set at 6-5 and held two set points at 6-4 in the tiebreak. “I didn’t serve as well as I did in the previous matches. He played some good tennis in some big moments, especially in the third. The first set should definitely have been mine. I served for the first. Couple of loose points. I had a couple of set points, and with chances in the points as well. It could have gone differently. I think I had a good attitude to turn it around and then a chance early in the third, but he played very aggressive in the third set and managed to return well and then serve well when he needed to in the third.”
It was the third successive match in which Krawietz and Puetz have come through in the crunch for Germany in Innsbruck, and Salisbury was blunt in his assessment of a defeat that means Britain will have to negotiate a qualifying tie in March to reach the 2022 finals.
“They played well at the end of the second-set tiebreak, but we didn’t,” said Salisbury, who partnered Rajeev Ram to the US Open title in September and also won the Australian Open alongside the American last year. “I mean, we’re 5-0 up, we should win the tiebreak, simple as that. They came up with some good shots, but we missed some. I had two points on serve, played two bad points. We lost seven points in a row. There is no team in the world that we should … do that [against]. We tried our best, but it just wasn’t good enough. Obviously we are gutted [about] how it turned out.”
Germany, who advanced to the semi-finals for the first time since 2007, will now travel to Madrid, where they will face either the Russian Tennis Federation or Sweden for a place in Sunday’s final.
“In Madrid there are different conditions,” said Struff. “I think we have now three days to prepare. I mean, it’s a bit more altitude, so the ball will be flying a bit more. The ball was bouncing here pretty high, so let’s see if it’s bouncing more there. It’s very nice to fly with the team. We all said we want to go to Madrid, and reached that aim. Now it’s time to set a new aim to win the semi-finals.”