Russia’s tennis team won the Davis Cup for the third time, beating Croatia Sunday in Madrid.
Le Monde with AFP
The year 2021 was awarded for the Russian tennis team. After the ATP Cup victory in January, she won his third Cup Davis, Sunday, December 5, beating Croatia.
With Daniil Medvedev, N ° 2 World and winner of the US Open, Andrey Rubible, 5 e world, Aslan Karatsev, 18 e , and Karen Khachanov, 29 e , the Russians had undoubtedly the strongest team on paper. They confirmed it on the ground. Sunday, in the final, they won the two simple: Rubev beat Borna Gojo (279 e ) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) and Medvedev beaten Marine Cilic (30 e ) 7-6 (9/7), 6-2. The double was without stake, and fortunately for the Russians.
Because in this competition in three games, double, their weak point, could have been decisive in case of defeat of one of the two Russians in simple. And Croatia has the best global pair with Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic, Olympic Champions and Wimbledon winners in 2021.
No national flag
Rubible and Karatsev – that the world has discovered at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year with its journey to the semi-finals where it has only sold in the future Champion Novak Djokovic – have won The only decisive match they had to gain during the competition: that against Spain in the group stage, which allowed Russia to qualify for the quarterfinals.
against Mektic and Pavic, who did not give up at once during the tournament, their chances were very low. But Rubev and Medvedev ensured the victory before, as in the semifinal where the double against the Germans Pütz / Krawietz was a likely fatal pitfall.
Gojo, revelation of competition with victories in particular on Sonego (27 e ) and Lajovic (33 e ), did not explode under the butt From Rubev as the German Dominik Koepfer had done in semi-finals. But he finally did not do better since the point of the game went to Russian, who did not concede the slightest ball of Break.
remained at MEDVEDEV to conclude. Cilic, however, opposed a resistance that Russian had never met since the beginning of the tournament. In particular in the first set, because after the loss of the Tie-Break, the Croatian was much more dominated.
No national flag, a team called Russian Tennis Federation, the Piano Concerto No. 1 of Tchaikovski as a hymn because of the sanctions related to doping in Russian sport, as in 2002 and 2006 … but c is good in Moscow that will leave the salad bowl.