US Open champion and world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev said he had the best week of his career as he went unbeaten in the Davis Cup finals and helped the Russia Tennis Federation claim their first title in 15 years with a 2-0 win over Croatia on Sunday.
“It was an amazing two weeks because it’s never easy to come here at the end of the season. I’m more happy for the team than for myself,” Medvedev said after winning 7-6 (7), 6-2 against Croatia’s Marin Cilic.
Medvedev did not lose a set in the tournament.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Earlier, world No. 5 Andrey Rublev needed just 1 hour, 32 minutes to beat Borna Gojo and put Russia in the lead.
“What I love about these kinds of tournaments, when we play as a country, is the bond we create as a team,” Rublev told reporters. “We do everything together and it creates this will to win for your friends, for the team.”
Russia went unbeaten in the Davis Cup finals, winning their group opener 3-0 against Ecuador and only struggling to beat one of their rivals, hosts Spain, who handed them their only loss in the singles when Feliciano Lopez edged Rublev in three sets.
That win created animosity between the Spanish crowd and the Russian team — until the final, when they received a standing ovation.
After beating Spain, Russia eliminated Sweden and Germany decisively on their way to Sunday’s final, when they won the Davis Cup for the first time since lifting the 2006 title.
“I was eight years old and was in the arena. Don’t remember anything other than it was against Argentina,” Rublev said, smiling broadly.
Russia claimed their third Davis Cup to tie Czech Republic and Germany for sixth place on the all-time winners’ list.
ITF ON PENG SHUAI
Reuters
The president of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) yesterday told the BBC that it did not have plans to suspend events in China amid widespread concern over the well-being of Chinese star player Peng Shuai.
The former doubles world No. 1 made a sexual assault accusation against former Chinese vice premier Zhang Gaoli, then disappeared from public view last month, prompting the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) to suspend its lucrative tournaments in China.
ITF president David Haggerty said that the governing body — which oversees the Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup, along with a number of lower-level tournaments — did not have plans to follow suit.
“We don’t want to punish a billion people, so we will continue to run our junior events in the country and our senior events that are there for the time being,” Haggerty told the BBC, adding that the group would “work behind to scenes” to help resolve the matter.
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