This was a completely unexpected disaster. "It's sad; no one anticipated that something like this could happen," lamented Torben Beltz, the captain of the German women's tennis team, after his team's disappointing performance in the Europe/Africa zone, which resulted in their relegation to an even lower tier.

The bitter defeat is difficult for Germany to accept. In the group stage, which included Sweden, Denmark, and the host nation Portugal, the German team had no other scenario in mind than returning to the World Group of the Billie Jean King Cup. However, in the first two matches against Sweden and Portugal, the German team failed to perform well in the crucial doubles matches, and it became clear that instead of aiming for qualification, they would be fighting for survival. In the relegation match against Lithuania, the Germans started well, with Noma Noha Akugue securing the first point, and Ella Seidel had a set advantage in the following singles match against Justina Mikulskyte. However, she failed to close out the match, and Akugue and Nastasja Schunk then faltered in the decisive doubles match, leading to a major setback.

"For the first time in history, Germany will be playing in the third tier of the BJKC. This marks the end of a golden era. A tennis powerhouse that has given the world legends like Steffi Graf and Angelique Kerber will be facing South Africa, Cyprus, or Georgia. It's a disgrace," reported the German sports website Sport1.de after Germany's relegation to the second group of the Europe/Africa zone. "The long-delayed team restructuring process has completely failed. Siegemund was not playing, and she would have certainly saved us in the doubles," the website added.

Germany also had to do without another veteran, Tatjana Maria, ranked 63rd in the WTA. Eva Lys, ranked 78th, was also unavailable due to injury. "We can't blame that on anything. Everyone is depressed about what happened. We simply weren't good enough, and our opponents played better tennis than us in the crucial moments. The girls have far more potential than they showed," said the disappointed captain Beltz. After this sensational defeat and relegation, the German team can only reminisce about their last appearance in the final, twelve years ago, when they lost to the Czech team at the O2 Arena in Prague. The Czech team, led by captain Barbora Strýcová, secured their qualification for the final tournament in China by winning against Switzerland.

sport.cz/gnews.cz