Germany 2 won the Nations Cup after a thrilling final against USA which went right down to the wire.
Steffen Neumann sealed the win, getting the necessary five points, after some nerveless attacking tennis which made it hard to believe it’s his ‘weakest sport’ – 5-2 against Alex Porush.
Team captain Bastian Böhm says, “I couldn’t be more proud of what we have achieved as a team. When someone wasn’t playing their best another one got his back and overall we’ve been playing one hell of a good tournament. Winning the final against a strong Team USA will probably be an unforgettable moment for all of us.”
USA captain Patrick Moran says his team had spent two hours the night before working out “the optimal lineup to give us a shot, with lots of data models and score projections from our team”. They tried to work out who would lose the fewest points to World No.13 and Elite player Bastian. Data suggested Alex Porush but they went with Patrick due to his impressive win against U21 Champion Lucas Steyer last year.
And it was, as predicted, a fantastic tie, swinging between the two countries significantly after each sport.
Team USA opened up a plus 17 lead after TT, with wins from all except Andrew Leung and Shree Dhond against Tom Branke and Gregor David.
Patrick Moran, USA’s captain, continued things in the same manner with a very impressive 11-6 win against Bastian, which he describes as the most shocking result of the match. But after that Germany showed their class on the badminton court, winning 11-7, 11-6, and 11-1, bringing the difference back to just three.
On the first squash rubber, Bastian made amends from some surprising results in Patrick’s favour with a great squash set. The German made a great comeback, picking up almost everything, and won 12-10. Steph Chung played some of her best squash ever, but it was enough for only six against the very impressive young German Alina Reissenauer, who got silver in the Girls U18 and Bronze in the Women’s B. USA took the men’s doubles and men’s singles 2 11-6 and 11-4, leaving USA five up going into tennis.
Bastian won tennis, his strongest sport, 11-4, then there was a very quality tennis match between Steph and Alina, where the German saved set point with a brilliant sliding counter-drop in reply to a nice drop shot from Steph, and then went on to win 12-10, a vital four-point swing.
The German doubles pair played an excellent doubles set, producing some smart and nerveless volleys to 11-5, then Steffen finished the job in style.
“For me the team spirit with this German team was something special,” Steffen says. “During the matches everyone had their ups and downs in the different sports but at the end there was always someone who had a great performance and who put the team on his or her shoulder. Also the spirit and energy was great. We as a team let no one down.”
“There were two special moments. In the final, we played on centre court. I played last and needed 5 against Alex Porush to secure our win. Tennis is more or less my worst sport and was a little shaky over the tournament, so there was some pressure on me. It didn’t help that just before we went on court the world cup final teams came from their squash to us with spectators. I never had so many people watching a match of mine. 😄”
“The other special moment was after the final and the prize giving ceremony. When I put my things in my bag Alex approached me if I was interested in swapping a team Germany shirt with a team USA piece. Of course I agreed but I think that’s also a special thing about our racketlon community. No matter if you win or lose after a hard-fought battle, you always have respect for each other and we love that the world of racketlon comes together, shares a great time, and makes good memories.”
Germany reached the final with comfortable plus 41 and plus 22 wins against Austria 2 and Great Britain 3 and a victory over Hong Kong China 2 that went down to the wire. To see the plus 15 scoreline, it might appear semi-comfortable, but Germany went into the tennis only seven points, needing five for the win – tough for HK, but doable. Gregor David produced a fine set of tennis to win 11-3.
USA had a harder route to the final. It was such a tight group that the sets won were almost identical (USA 25 for and 23 against, Great Britain 2 had 24 and 24, Netherlands 23 and 25, and France 2 24 and 24).
Pivotal was USA’s win against GB2, who ended up taking Bronze after beating Hong Kong 2 plus 18.
It was Steph Chung who was the MVP of that match, winning plus 19 against Jo Shelley to overcome plus nine wins for GB’s Ross Wilson against Patrick and a plus seven win for James Hempstead against Alex Porush. The doubles ended exactly even.
Going into James and Alex’s final tennis set, USA were one so it was a game of tennis. Alex played a strong set to take it 11 9.
Patrick said, “I am super proud of our team. Everyone gave it their all and we really fought for every point throughout the tournament! I thought we all did a great job of fighting for each other, staying positive and enjoying the moment.”
“The venue was amazing as always. I loved watching battle of the GOATs in Jesper vs. Luke. It’s always fun catching up with everyone. Lots of our team members got into jersey swaps this year, which I loved.”
“So happy to send two teams this year, across our 12 team members, we got to play 15 different countries! It’s a global sport!”
