Orest Tereshchuk: After three defeats, changes in the captaincy are possible.

The captain of the Ukrainian national team, Orest Tereshchuk, exclusively shared with The Champion the reasons for their defeat and his future with the team.

– The first match against Tunisia was quite balanced. In the second set, Vitaliy didn’t close it out, leading 5:2 in the tiebreak. Before that, he also had a certain advantage in the game. After losing the second set, Sachko started to play weaker than his opponent, but thanks to some successful actions on his serve, he managed to keep the opponent from breaking away. At 3:4, Vitaliy played very well, aggressively, broke to love, and held his serve. Vitaliy was the second player in our team and he outplayed the leader of the Tunisian team.

– Who were we most afraid of?

– According to the rankings, yes. Looking at his history of participation in matches for the national team, he doesn’t have particularly good results. During this confrontation, he also lost both singles. It’s likely a psychological issue. It’s rare for a player to perform at the same level in personal tournaments as they do for the national team. Sometimes it’s worse, sometimes better. There are cases where some players slump after team matches while others rise.

– Did the second-ranked player from Tunisia surprise us?

– On one hand, yes. But on the other hand, we were expecting a very tough match since Moez Asharghi was in form, having won a strong futures event before (ITF M15 in Monastir, and then another one – ed.). He defeated two Italian tennis players known to Oleksandr Ovcharenko. They told him that he is a very balanced player, steps up in crucial moments, and effectively uses his opponent's speed. Given that this was our opponent, we were unpleasantly surprised that his mistakes and trailing score didn't seem to affect him at all. Unfortunately, he turned out to be a tough nut to crack mentally.

The most disappointing loss was in doubles. I believe we were the favorites on paper. Their leader, a doubles specialist, was injured, although he was present at the match. And the leader of the duo that played had questions regarding mental resilience. Under pressure, his level of play dropped, and we also counted on that. But our guys didn’t play clean enough on their serves, which meant the entire match was under the pressure of needing to break.

Sashko played a very strong match on the final day. It should be noted that after the doubles match, it started to rain, and the competition was postponed. Ovcharenko performed excellently, even though the score didn’t reflect the quality of play. The score was quite comfortable, but there were many long games, and Sashko showed his best side.

Regarding the decisive match, it’s disappointing about the final result. There were many nuances with the weather, although that’s not an excuse for the defeat. Vitaliy was confidently outplaying his opponent, leading 4:1 with two breaks. The game was interrupted several times, with light rain, but we didn’t even leave the court. At 5:3 in Sachko’s favor, a heavier rain started, and the game was interrupted for a longer time. Vitaliy lost the rhythm of his winning streak, although the game was even. Towards the end of the set, the balance shifted in different directions, unfortunately, it didn’t work out. In the second set, the support of the local fans, which wasn’t always appropriate, and Asharghi’s successful play led to that score.

It’s a bitter defeat, but the guys fought hard. Whether we were favorites – I wouldn’t say so, but there was a backdrop that this was the third consecutive loss. For some reason, people still say that Tunisia is not a tennis country. For me, that’s a bit strange, considering that they have Ons Jabeur in women’s tennis, and the leader of the men’s team qualified for the Australian Open. In recent years, only Oleksiy Krutykh has managed to do that. Winning three matches in the conditions of the Australian heat deserves a certain respect.

– Why wasn’t Ilya Biloborodko in the squad, or anyone else who performed well in doubles for the national team?

– Of course, there may be many questions for me now. Both regarding Biloborodko and someone else. But circumstances led to this decision being made. Now, there are those who are blamed for the loss, and that’s normal.

The reason Krutykh and Sachko played is that they have victories in ATP Challenger Tour tournaments in that combination. Plus, there is a comfortable understanding between them. Therefore, this combination was considered before the match. There were certain doubts the day before, and there were a few alternative options. But when it came to choosing who would be in the team, unfortunately, the choice was not in Ilya’s favor. However, we keep in touch, and I explained the reasons for this decision to him. He remains a part of this team.

– Can you already say something about the next opponent – the Dominican Republic team? How much tougher or easier is this opponent?

– Similar to Tunisia in that they have no options for rotation. They have three players, and last year the first number didn’t participate in the Davis Cup matches. The second and third won matches that allowed them to reach this stage. Regarding the surface, they play a lot on both hard and clay. The first number also participated in the Australian Open qualifiers. Although unsuccessfully, unlike our guys, his ranking allows him to do so. Last year he was in the second hundred, and the second number was at the beginning of the third hundred. They know how to play, but we’ll see how the players are doing; there’s still half a year until the match.

After three losses, there may be options for a captain change, either at my initiative or at the initiative of the federation leadership. We didn’t discuss this in the heat of the moment; we decided not to make far-reaching conclusions for now. At the moment, I have started to study the Dominican Republic team to understand who we are dealing with.

The Ukrainian national team lost to the team of Tunisia with a score of 2:3.

• Aziz Dugaz – Vitaliy Sachko – 3:6, 7:6 (8:6), 3:6
• Moez Asharghi – Oleksandr Ovcharenko – 7:6 (7:1), 6:2
• Aziz Dugaz/Aziz Waka – Oleksiy Krutykh/Vitaliy Sachko – 6:3, 6:4
• Aziz Dugaz – Oleksandr Ovcharenko – 2:6, 2:6
• Moez Asharghi – Vitaliy Sachko – 7:5, 6:1

Recall, on January 31 Vitaliy Sachko defeated Aziz Dugaz, and Oleksandr Ovcharenko lost to Moez Asharghi. On February 1, the pair Oleksiy Krutykh/Vitaliy Sachko lost to Aziz Dugaz and Aziz Waka. On February 2, Ovcharenko defeated Dugaz, achieving his first victory with the national team, but that wasn’t enough for an overall win, as Sachko lost to Asharghi.