DAVIS CUP FINALS

December 4, 2021

Jan-Lennard Struff

Team Germany

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/J. Struff

6-4, 6-4

Russian Tennis Federation - 2

Germany - 0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. When do you think you lost this match? What was the key, the main key?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: I knew it's going to be very tough to play Daniil. He's No. 2 in the world, so I knew I have to play very good game today.

I think I started pretty well, was serving pretty good, serve and volley pretty good, played aggressive style. I had the feeling like at 4-4 I played a bad game. I gave him three mistakes that made him feel comfortable. He served it out 6-4.

In the second set, I mean, for me, I played okay. The match was okay what I played. I was happy the way I performed. But there was, like, two little things, two games which I didn't play very well, and he took his chance, he went away. He is too good to give him these little mistakes today.

Q. It will be the last time we'll see you this year. When you look back on 2021, how do you feel things went for you? What are you targeting or focusing on for 2022?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: Yeah, was kind of strange year. I had some very good results, but as well I played some bad tennis at some times. It was not as consistent as it was like the years before.

I made my first finals, so it was a bit kind of strange. I dropped a bit in the ranking, but I had the feeling end of the year in St. Petersburg I played a good tournament again, I played fourth round French Open, equalized my best result in a Grand Slam. There was definitely some really good moments this year. I hope I can keep it up.

Yeah, I'm convinced that I will play good tennis next year. I mean, like I played here in Davis Cup today, a couple of matches in Innsbruck, I had the feeling I had a good level to play. I need to improve my game still that I don't give, yeah, Daniil today these mistakes that he can break me. If I work on this, I think I can be a dangerous player again next year.

Q. Let's say they ask you to choose between playing the Davis Cup and the ATP Cup. You have to take only one. Which one do you choose and why?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: That's a very tough one. Good question.

For me both events are very nice. The Davis Cup has more history definitely, so I would maybe prefer to choose the Davis Cup. But I liked a lot the event they put up in Australia to begin the year.

I'm a team player. I like to play in a team. I want to have -- in general, I would love to have more events like this with a team.

I don't want to choose between these two. I just want to have more team events. That's my thing, yeah.

Q. I don't know how good a friend you are with Sascha Zverev. Do you think you can try to persuade him to play either the Davis Cup, maybe he's playing ATP Cup? Would you like him to be part of the team? Have you ever talked to him and understood why he said since the beginning of the year he was not going to play the Davis Cup?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: Yeah, I mean, of course I talked to him, definitely. Of course, I tried to convince him to play definitely. We don't need to talk about Sascha's level. He's a top player. He would help the team 100% always. If he's in the team, we're a better team, better chances to win.

But he communicated it early enough that he's not going to play. It's one reason, as well, that I think he said enough for the reasons why he doesn't play. As well, he said that the date in the year was very late. It's kind of a problem right now because the year's very long. I go to holidays one week now and have, like, 10 days to prepare for next season, which is not very long.

It's tough with the date. It's a lot of events. The season is very long.