To Zverev-Led Germany, Bare Foot Bowling Rolls Naturally In Brisbane

If the bare foot bowls game between Germany and Canada on Wednesday serves as any indication, the Germans, led by No. 7 Alexander Zverev, will be quick to start at the ATP Cup in Brisbane.

The Germans beat the Canadians, led by #NextGenATP stars Denis Shapovalov, No. 15 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, and Felix Auger-Aliassime, No. 21, in an abbreviated game of the traditional Aussie past-time at the Merthyr Bowls Club in Brisbane.

The past-time could be considered a mix of a few sports. First, the obvious comparison: bowling, because in bare foot bowls, you roll a ball underhand on a manicured green, similar to those found on golf courses. Horseshoes also comes to mind because the team that delivers the ball closest to the white ball, or the “jack”, wins. And as the club’s greens director, Ian Warden, explained, bare foot bowls is also “just like tennis”.

“You play forehand and backhand in balls; you play forehand and backhand in tennis,” Warden said of rolling the ball with either the right or left hand.

But instead of using a racquet to hit a light fuzzy ball, in bare foot bowls, you use your hands to roll a weighted, hard ball that can weigh about two kilos and often meanders as it sees fit, as the Germans and Canadians learned.

“That’s not good, boys!” Canada’s Peter Polansky shouted after a errant roll.

Germany won both games of three-on-three, partly thanks to reigning Roland Garros doubles champion Andreas Mies, who won the Grand Slam title with countryman Kevin Krawietz, both of whom are representing their country at the ATP Cup.

“It’s the first time we’ve played this game. I have no experience with this, and it was a lot of fun. I was up and down, one shot was good, one was terrible, one was good,” Mies said. “But in the end, we got the win.”

Germany will look to Mies and Krawietz to play clutch on the court as well as doubles will be the final match of the three (also two singles) to be played in every team contest. The Germans open against Australia at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Canada, however, said a little gamesmanship might have been involved on New Year’s Day.

“Our goal was to not show our tough competitiveness at this time because we’re going to play them in the round robin, so we don’t want to give them everything we’ve got in the beginning,” Canadian captain Adriano Fuorivia said.

Fuorivia, Shapovalov’s former coach, and the Canadians kick off the ATP Cup in Brisbane at 10 a.m. Friday against Greece. Canada will face Germany at 10 a.m. Tuesday 7 January, both teams’ final group match.

“It’s good to have these team events. We don’t get a lot of these throughout the year,” Auger-Aliassime said. “There’s a great chemistry with us together. A lot of good times, a lot of positive vibes, I think everyone is going to be pushing in the right direction this week, so hopefully we get good results out of that.”