Team spirit key to Britain’s bid for Davis Cup semi-final spot

Leon Smith’s Great Britain face Germany in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup behind closed doors in Innsbruck; the teams are competing on Tuesday to make it to Madrid once again for the climax of the tournament this weekend

Last Updated: 29/11/21 6:40pm

Great Britain’s Davis Cup captain Leon Smith will look to hold off Germany in the quarter-finals

Great Britain will bid for Davis Cup success as they look to hold off a Germany team on a revenge mission and reach the semi-finals.

Britain defeated Germany two years ago in Madrid at the same stage of the inaugural finals week before losing a close contest to eventual champions Spain.

Here, Britain and Germany have both had the misfortune to be playing behind closed doors in Innsbruck and are competing on Tuesday to make it to the Spanish capital once again for the climax of the tournament this weekend.

?? All smiles in the snow ?#BackTheBrits ?? | #DavisCupFinals pic.twitter.com/09U6c9JCuY

— LTA (@the_LTA)

November 29, 2021

Leon Smith has been captain of the British team for more than a decade, keeping many of the same backroom staff throughout his tenure, and they have embraced the challenge of creating their own atmosphere.

“I can tell you I absolutely love the guys here,” said Smith. “It’s not just the players and myself. The support team are just absolutely brilliant. You couldn’t ask for, not just a nicer bunch of people, but everyone goes the extra mile.

“I won’t name them, they’ll get embarrassed, but they do everything for us. They do it with a smile on their face. Everyone feels part of it.

“We’re in the team room in the evening. We’re lucky we have different stuff to be doing, games. We spend time because we enjoy each other’s company. It’s been like that for a long time. Long may it continue.”

?? ? ??

We face Germany in the @DavisCup quarter-finals after they beat Austria to top Group F #BackTheBrits ?? | #DavisCupFinals pic.twitter.com/PFwbeb8vpA

— LTA (@the_LTA)

November 28, 2021

Germany captain Michael Kohlmann said: “Now we have our chance to get revenge against Great Britain. I think Great Britain has a great team. We practised with them here in the preparation. Leon is a great guy. I’m really looking forward to the tie.

“We have a chance to get to the semi-finals. That’s our goal. But it’s nice to play twice against them in the quarter-finals, so we can see whether we improve or not.”

Britain have the advantage on rankings, with Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans at 12 and 25 in the world compared to 51 and 54 for Jan-Lennard Struff and Dominik Koepfer.

Should it come down to the doubles, both teams possess some of the best proponents of that discipline in the world, with Britain fielding Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski and Germany represented by Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz.

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