14-year-old Julia Stusek wins her first professional match
She is considered one of the greatest young talents in German tennis: Julia Stusek, 14 years young, won her first match in professional tennis at the Hamburg Ladies & Gents Cup.
by Florian Heer
last edit: Oct 17, 2022, 02:25 pm
Although the teenager benefited in the first round of qualifying for the ITF World Tennis Tour W60 event on Sunday from the injury-related retirement of her number 538 Romanian competitor Oana Gavrila at a score of 6-1, 4-1, he was able to Stusek definitely put their skills to the test in the 58-minute game. "Of course I'm very happy about progressing and I'm grateful to everyone who helped me to be here," says Stusek, who started the tournament with a wildcard, following her successful debut on the pro circuit.
Training with Martina Hingis
Born in Baden, she comes from a tennis family, has Czech roots and has excellent connections in Switzerland to the former number one in the world rankings, Martina Hingis, and her mother Melanie Monitor. “My parents both play tennis and my mum was active on the tour herself. Melanie is my coach and Martina is often present at my training sessions. That's a great thing," says Stusek, who now also lives in the Swiss Confederation.
Triumph at the junior classic in France
At the international junior events in Baden and Leimen, number 177 in the junior world rankings has already had her first tournament successes. The highlight for the time being, however, was her victory at "Les Petits As", probably the most important international tournament in the U-14 age group, in whose list of winners players of the caliber of Kim Clijsters, Bianca Andreescu and Dinara Safina have already entered. In general, after Heike Rusch and Anke Huber, she is only the third German to win the title in Tarbes, France. "
This experience helped me a lot, as many spectators followed my matches," says Stusek, knowing that there may be a few more who will be cheering on their games in the future.
school and sports
At the present time, however, the combination of tennis and school is perhaps still one of the greatest challenges. But the young star also sees himself well positioned here. “I attend the private high school in Mannheim. You have to be on site twice a week, the rest is done online. This is a great opportunity and the teachers are also very cooperative.”
When asked about her goals, Stusek replies: "It's important not to stand out, to stay focused and simply to get better." This of course also applies to the tournament in Hamburg, where on Monday in the second round of qualification she finished number 610 in the world rankings, Eszter Meri from Slovakia. "Of course I will continue to try to do my best," says Stusek, looking forward to her next task.