Translated material
good land
Davis Cup semi-final starts today in Moscow
The first game of the Davis Cup semi-final between the national teams of Russia and Germany will take place at the capital's Olimpiyskiy Sports Complex at 13:00 Moscow time. The captains of both teams - Russian Shamil Tarpishchev and German Patrick Kühnen - announced the strongest squads they currently have for the match meeting. The Russian quartet included Nikolay Davydenko (No. 4), Mikhail Yuzhny (No. 14), Igor Andreev (No. 28), Dmitry Tursunov (No. 37). The German four consisted of team leader Tommy Haas (No. 9), Philipp Kohlschreiber (No. 28), Alexander Vaske (No. 137), and team tournament debutant Philipp Pechner (No. 205).According to the draw held on Thursday, the first number on the court will be the second number of the Russian quartet, Igor Andreev, and the first number of their opponents, Tommy Haas. Then Nikolai Davydenko and Philipp Kohlschreiber will enter the fight. On Friday, Tursunov-Yuzhny have been announced for the doubles match, which will be opposed by the duo Vaske-Pechner. On Sunday there will be two singles matches in which Davydenko will play with Haas, and Andreev will play with Kohlschreiber.
Before this cup match, the national teams of both countries met eight times, in five of which Soviet and Russian tennis players won. However, keeping in mind these favorable statistics for his team, captain Shamil Tarpishchev does not consider his players to be favorites for the upcoming meeting. “The match is unpredictable in terms of results. “I assess the chances of both sides as 50 to 50,” Tarpishchev said, adding that he is not inclined to talk about the pros and cons of the German team before the game. - Our shortcomings and their shortcomings are different. Whoever uses it best will win. As for performing skills, this is a separate issue. Whoever adapts better to this surface will win.”
As hosts of the semi-final, the Russian team offered clay as a surface. According to Tarpishchev, this was a collective decision of all team members, because the ground gives the Russians a slight advantage. That is why Andreev, who is rated lower than Yuzhny, was chosen as the second number of the Russian team, but for the last two weeks he has been playing on clay. In particular, the tournament in Bucharest. After the draw, Andreev said that he was glad that he was given the opportunity to open this tournament, and would try to do everything to bring the team the first point, because this is important for the team.
For Tommy Haas, Andreev's choice as the second number of the Russian national team was not a surprise, and he recalled that they had never played each other before. “The first set will be uneven. We will take a closer look and adapt, and then the strongest will win,” predicted the German tennis player. Answering a question from the realm of fantasy, who would Haas prefer as an opponent to Andreev or Kafelnikov, to whom he lost in the final at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, the German tennis player named Safin. By the way, Safin, who was not on the list of our team, interrupted his climb to the mountain peaks in the Himalayas and urgently flew to Moscow.
Most of the excitement on Thursday was associated with Russian number one Nikolai Davydenko, as information emerged that he would not be able to play due to a wrist injury. Davydenko himself categorically rejected all these speculations with an unequivocal statement: “Well, continue to listen to the rumors. The draw has been completed and I am playing the match on Friday. But I won’t answer what I had and will have,” he concluded. Explaining this remark, the Russian captain added that Davydenko strives and wants to play, that there is a chronic wrist injury, but there is nothing that can prevent the player from entering the court.
Tarpishchev did not hide the fact that substitutions were possible in both teams for the doubles match. “We will most likely have replacements. And the fact that Haas could also play in the German team, depending on the results, is also possible,” said the Russian captain.
Both Haas and Kohlschreiber made it clear that the clay surface at the Olimpiyskiy suits them quite well. “This is good ground to defeat the Russians on,” Philipp Kohlschreiber summed up the mood of his four.