All the players who won the Davis Cup under the late captain and tournament director gather in Munich
In the presence of all German Davis Cup winners, the MTTC Iphitos commemorated Niki Pilic, who passed away in September, at the ATP tournament in Munich. “For us, Niki was more than just a coach,” said Tournament Director Patrik Kühnen on behalf of his former teammates Boris Becker, Michael Stich, Carl-Uwe Steeb, Eric Jelen and Marc-Kevin Goellner about the former team captain.
The glorious seven were visibly moved and some had tears in their eyes. “You will always be our coach,” the 60-year-old Kühnen concluded his short speech on the center court. Pilic himself had also been the director of the ATP tournament in Munich for many years. He had led Germany to the Davis Cup title in 1988, 1989 and 1993. Pilic, who turned 86, is also regarded as the discoverer and promoter of Novak Djokovic.
Kühnen, one of Pilic’s successors as captain of the German Davis Cup team, also paid tribute to Pilic “as a person” and emphasized: “He made us believe that we can achieve great things.” With a smile, he added to Becker and Stich: “I can also say that a gold medal in the doubles in Barcelona would never have come to Germany if Niki had not played to his special abilities.”
