Poland has been waiting a long time to make their Davis Cup World Group debut, and no one is more excited than veteran Marcin Matkowski. The doubles star has been playing for Poland’s Davis Cup team for years is excited that not only he finally gets to play in the highest level of international team tennis, but that he gets to share it with his home fans.
A Long-Awaited Debut
Matkowski explained the road the Poles have taken to reach the World Group, saying “it took us along time to get here.I started playing regularly in Davis Cup from 2003 but from 2007 it became our goal to get in [to the World Group]. It took us eight long years – but it feels great to finally be there.”
Now that Poland is in the world group, Matkowski and the Polish squad are not satisfied with simply reaching the top group. “Now the goal is to win a match. Hopefully it can happen next week.”
A National Experience
For this Polish team, one of the highlights is getting to play in front of the home fans in Gdansk. “It’s a great tie for us. It’s the first time we’re in the World Group and we’re very excited, especially that we got the coin toss to pay at home.”
“With this historic match for us, hopefully the supporters will turn out and be at the stadium. We are playing in a great arena in Gdansk. It’s very new, modern, and it’s in an area where there used to be the Sopot tennis tournament so there’s lots of tennis fans already there. We’re hoping they will be there to help us beat Argentina.”
Eyeing the Upset
Despite home court advantage, the Poles are underdogs against an experienced Argentinian squad. But Matkowski is not worried. “Argentina is the favourite. Especially that our No. 2 Michal Przysiezny is injured and won’t be in the team. But we have Jerzy Janowicz – he can win two ties – and me and Lukasz [Kubot] can win the doubles.”
The fact that the Poles get to play at home, on a fast indoor surface, also gives Matkowski confidence, saying “We’re playing at home on a fast hard court surface, which obviously suits us and maybe not Argentina. They have good results on a hard court too, but they are a much better team on clay, especially at home, so I think these two things help us and hopefully we can pull off an upset.”
Poland will host Argentina in their first round tie on March 4th to 6th.