At least he will bring his serves to the team.
Poltavsky will probably play the whole tournament as opposite, but Mikhailkov could be used to replace a weaker server for a few points.
Oh, no. Mikhailov now is in very good shape - he was tremendous in WL. He could be even first choice for Russia.
And somebody know, where is Markus Steuerwald? Injury? It's then a big problem for Germany. And what can we say about Thomas Kröger?