Reigning Olympic champion Alexander Zverev has produced a heroic display to take Germany to United Cup triumph after a gripping win over Poland in the final in Sydney.
Backing up after a near-6am bedtime on Sunday morning, Zverev overcame a one-set deficit, two match points and a cramping body to defeat world No.9 Hubert Hurkacz 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 in a three-hour thriller to level the tie one-all.
He was soon back on court for his his sixth match in three days, partnering with doubles specialist Laura Siegemund in the deciding rubber against Hurkacz and women's singles world No.1 Iga Swiatek.
Germany took the first set 6-4 but as Sunday night moved into Monday morning the Polish duo responded to take the second 7-5 and force a super tie-break.
Zverev and Siegemund stepped it up to win the breaker 10-4 and the match.
Fittingly, the winning shot was off Zverev's raquet, a backhand volley winner that sealed success against a team that had won 11 of their 12 matches in the event prior to Zverev beating Hurkacz.
"It's been absolutely amazing. It's been a pleasure and it's been absolutely so much fun for everybody to be part of this team, especially for me," Zverev said.
"I really thank you guys for being part of this. I really couldn't be happier be sharing this trophy with anybody than you guys."
"It was really tight. Last year we made it to the semi-finals and this year to the finals. So hopefully the next step is going to be winning (the trophy)," Swiatek, who won the Most Valuable Player award, said.
It is Germany's first tennis team triumph since the 1990s.
That golden era they won the women's Federation Cup (now Billie Jean King Cup) in 1992, the men's Davis Cup in 1993 and the mixed Hopman Cup in 1993 and 1995. That last victory, in Perth, was with Anke Huber and Boris Becker on court. Two years prior their wining duo was Steffi Graf and Michael Stich.
Their modern day heirs also include Angelique Kerber, whose win over Alja Tomljanovic in the semi-final win over Australia, in which she saved two match points, was so crucial.
She was unable to match that feat against Swiatek but pushed the world No.1 hard in the first set at Ken Rosewall Arena before succumbing 6-3 6-0.
The straight-sets result was Swiatek's 16th consecutive win after the 22-year-old finished a hugely successful 2023 with her 16th and 17th career titles at the China Open and season-ending championship in Mexico.
Playing her first event since rejoining the tour from maternity leave, Kerber performed admirably in the opening rubber, with the one-sided scoreline not a true reflection of how hard Swiatek had to fight in the first set.
Poland looked set to secure a first team title when Hurkacz led the seventh-ranked Zverev by a set and 6-4 in the second-set tiebreaker.
Zverev, though, dug deep to stage an astonishing Houdini act.
On the first match point, he pulled off a remarkable on-the-run forehand winner that only just clipped the line.
He served his way out of the second set to lay the foundation for a drama-charged deciding set, which Zverev won with a decisive late break of serve to clinch victory after two hours and 59 minutes.
Zverev conceded he had "absolutely no idea" how he pulled the match out of the fire, having been still on court after 2.00am on Sunday helping Germany complete an epic semi-final victory over Australia.
"This is how tennis goes sometimes. You win and lose by millimetres," he said.
