Australian Open: Kerber's messed up birthday rounds off the German women's debacle
No German woman in round two of the Australian Open - that was last in 1977. Angelique Kerber also had no sense of achievement.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Jan 18, 2022, 04:15 pm
When Angelique Kerber entered the "Kia Arena" in the National Tennis Center on Tuesday evening, everything was like in better times. The fans in the brand new stadium sang a birthday song to the northern lights, Kerber thanked her politely and with a smile she walked to the warm-up program with her Estonian opponent Kaia Kanepi. But just under an hour and a half later the music and joy was out of the holiday, Kerber, now 34 years old, failed after a largely dreary performance with 4: 6 and 3: 6 at number 113 in the world rankings. And with this messed up birthday, the Australian Open debacle for German women's tennis was also perfect - the fact that for the first time since 1977 no DTB player did not even fight in the second round also indicated that the golden era of the Kerber generation and Co. is powerfully coming to an end. "It wasn't my best tennis today. But I couldn't expect much either," said Kerber, who contracted a corona infection in December and was severely restricted in her tournament preparation.
Last year, after the success at the tournament in Bad Homburg, for which she was jointly responsible, Kerber reported back spectacularly - with the self-confidence and momentum from home she then advanced to the semi-finals in Wimbledon, only to be beaten by world number one Ashleigh Barty stopped. But otherwise it was and has become quiet around Kerber and the group of players who began their long march through the tennis institutions in the middle and late noughties and repeatedly provided spectacular center court moments. In the meantime, only Kerber and her friend Andrea Petkovic have remained from the "golden generation". Julia Görges is a happy retiree, she ended her career in the midst of the challenging pandemic times. Sabine Lisicki, the Wimbledon finalist of 2013, is said to be working on a rather uncertain comeback: However, it would not be surprising if she too were to draw a line in the not too distant future due to her bitter injury history and physical vulnerability.
Besides Kerber only Petkovic and Maria at the start
With only three German players - in addition to Kerber and Petkovic also Tatjana Maria - these Open Australian Championships had started in 2022, it was the thinnest number of starters since 2004. Petkovic and Maria were eliminated on the opening day, now followed with Kerber the woman who Women's tennis in this country had brought the most memorable scenes and successes in the last decade. Her heyday began with the Melbourne Cup six years ago, and in that 2016 season she moved up to first place in the world rankings and won the US Open. She experienced the culmination of her life's work in 2018 on the sacred lawn of the All England Club in Wimbledon.
But behind Kerber, Görges and Co., no new group of players established themselves that would harass the establishment nationally and internationally. Talents like Annika Beck or Carina Witthöft never made it to the top in the world. There are just six German players in the top 200 these days, only two – Kerber and Petkovic (34 years old each) – are in the top 100. The only player under 25 who is still doing reasonably well in the tour business is Dortmund-born Jule Niemeier: She is 22 years old, ranked 129th in the WTA hit list. The French Open had already highlighted the crisis last year, and no DTB player had reached the second round there either. DTB women's boss Rittner is now pinning her hopes on players like 18-year-old Karlsruher Nastasja Schunk, who in 2021 was already sniffing around at WTA tournaments from time to time. Rittner, the experienced observer, makes no secret of the difficult situation: "We have a dry spell ahead of us." In 2019 she had already spoken of a "scary overall picture".
Kohlschreiber in round two
Only the 38-year-old veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber was granted a sense of achievement on Tuesday: The Augsburger, who has now slipped to world number 134, won his opening game 6: 4, 7: 5 and 7: 6 against the Italian Marco Cecchinato and will now meet on Thursday Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain). Without a word, Davis Cup player Jan-Lennard Struff lost 4: 6, 3: 6 and 2: 6 against the young Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp. Maximilian Marterer from Nuremberg also lost his opening game - 6:7, 3:6 and 2:6 against Taylor Fritz from the USA.
Here is the individual tableau for women
laver arena