Following Switzerland’s 1-3 defeat to India in their Davis Cup tie, Swiss Captain Severin Lüthi shared his analysis of the matchup. Lüthi credited the commitment of the visiting team but pinpointed the 0-2 deficit on the opening day as the critical turning point that left his squad with too much ground to cover. He also addressed the last-minute substitution that saw Jerome Kym replaced by debutant Henry Bernet for the crucial third singles rubber.
Here are the captain’s thoughts on the tie:
At the end, it is a 1-3 loss against India. You are surely disappointed. What are your thoughts about this tie in general and the reasons for this defeat?
I think, first of all, credit to the Indian team. I think they really pushed hard. They seem to be very committed and [had] a lot of fire for their country. So they did a good job for sure.
It wasn’t easy for us, but, yeah, if I look back on Friday, we shouldn’t be down two-zero. Somehow we have to find a way to at least be at one all, you know. Then I think everything is a bit easier, or there’s more possibilities for us. So that’s my regret a little bit, you know, that we couldn’t do a better job on Friday.
In the third singles match, everybody expected Jerome Kym as the number one of the team. Instead of him, Henry Bernet played. What were the reasons for that change?
Yeah, Jerome hurt himself yesterday at the end of the match, on his calf. So he really wasn’t sure if he could play, you know, and at the end, [there was] too much doubt if he could really play a full match. So, yeah, if he’s not fit, then I cannot let him play.
We thought we had a chance with Henry. Unfortunately, Sumit [Nagal] played a good match. Henry [was a] bit tight, which is normal in the first Davis Cup match. But, yeah, we tried our best. I think we don’t have a lot of regrets on that [decision].