Earlier this year, the first round clash between Germany and Spain in Frankfurt, Germany, ended up being a big surprise. Spain definitely didn’t come with its A-team since the two Top 5 players on the team, Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer, stayed at home. On the other side, the best ranked German player (No. 12 in the world), didn’t compete on the first match day either due to a shoulder injury.
Phillip Kohlschreiber and Florian Mayer, facing Spain on the first day, put Germany up 2-0. While Kohlschreiber ended his match with a straight win against Roberto Bautista Agut, Mayer, No. 29 in the world at this time, had to struggle a bit against the Spaniard Feliciano Lopez who was seeded three places before before the German. After leading with two sets, Mayer fought through the match to win it 7-6 7-6 1-6 5-7 6-3.
Spain’s champions doubles pairing, winner of the ATP World Tour Finals, Fernando Verdasco and David Marrero, were supposed to bring the first point to the guest. Surprisingly, Kohlschreiber paired up with Tommy Haas to face this challenge and succeeded in the end winning 7-6 6-7 7-6 6-3.
Germany hasn’t won the Davis Cup title since 1993 and even hasn’t won against Spain since 1994 who has won the title 5 times after 1993. This might be an indicator for Germany to win its next Davis Cup title.
