French Open champions Krawietz and Mies - "It's all unreal"
Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies actually did it: defending their title in Roland Garros after a season that was anything but as expected.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Oct 10, 2020, 10:05 pm
They had almost disappeared from the scene in this torn tennis year. Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies had no title in their rather mediocre job reference, not even a final attempt had jumped out in the 2020 Corona season until autumn. But when it counted, on the home stretch of a peculiar Grand Slam season, in their tennis paradise Paris, the two conspiratorial Center Court brothers suddenly had the last, powerful word again: At 7:01 p.m. on Saturday evening, Krawietz (28) and sank Mies (30) down again into the red sand of Roland Garros - at the end of a second successful, absolutely cinematic title mission at this time's last major tournament in the game series, as the undefeated double kings of the French Open.
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It took the Coburg Krawietz and the Cologne Mies 88 minutes to march first and best over the finish line after a largely sovereign 6: 3, 7: 5 win against Mate Pavic / Bruno Soares (Croatia / Brazil). “It's an incredible moment. We are overjoyed now, you can't even believe it, "said Krawietz (28) in a first TV conversation after the cup coup," tonight we're going to really accelerate. "Partner Mies assisted:" Paris is just one magical place for us. The whole thing is absolutely unreal. It will take some time before we understand the whole thing. "Anyone who had predicted this title defense a year ago, according to Mies," would have been declared crazy. "
Becker praises Krawietz and Mies
But in the challenging attempt to keep the trophy in their hands, to even confirm their title potential, the two Germans showed a consistently admirable performance. From the first minute of their Cup mission, they looked wide awake, focused, and determined to do everything. Before any rivals became dangerous to them, they themselves had ensured the necessary respect and mostly already took over the direction of the matches - with one exception, the third round match against the French Bonzi and Hoang, in which they even had to fend off three match points. But in the acute tournament phase, in the quarter-finals, in the semi-finals and then again in the final, they did not make a set, were always the dominant figures on the court. Krawietz and Mies were "intimidating", "damn good and uncompromising": “They played at the top level, again and again, as if it were the most natural thing in the world,” said tennis chancellor Boris Becker.
That they were able to maintain this attitude during the nerve-wracking final test was even more astonishing. After all, with Pavic and Soares the newly crowned US Open champions were on the field - Pavic also the former number 1 in the double world rankings, Soares with 34 titles one of the most successful players in the recent past of the specialty discipline. Against the two Germans, however, they mostly only looked like inhibited viewers of the “Kramies” show, insecure, nervous, dissatisfied, then irritated by their own weak demeanor. The first set was quickly decided for the tactically smart and variable operating Germans, the 6: 3 gave self-confidence and further courage.
Swiatek turns Paris into "Poland Garros"
There was more opposition in the second act, but only a really dicey situation when Mies had to fend off three breakballs at 2: 3. Symptomatic was the preliminary decision in the eleventh game, with a 5: 5 tie. The Germans fell behind with 0:40, but remained defiantly believing in their chance. It was the debut, then with the second breakball the 6: 5 lead was achieved. In the end, Krawietz and Mies couldn't take the victory away. Game, set and dream win number two were perfect. A cup triumph as strange as the other. Now the Bavarian and the Rhinelander were only number 3 and number 4 among the German professionals who had ever won more than one big title - only Claudia Kohde-Kilsch and Phlipp Petzschner had achieved that before.
The women's final was won by high-flyer Iga Siwatek from Poland in the afternoon: the 19-year-old from Warsaw won the final 6: 4 and 6: 1 against the American Sofia Kenin. It was Swiatek's first ever title on the big tennis tour, a sensational triumph that was won without losing any set. Most recently, the established Belgian Justine Henin achieved such a sovereign success in 2007. Swiatek had won the Wimbledon junior title two years ago and thus aroused great expectations, especially in her home country. She is now the first Polish woman to win a Grand Slam individual title, even a men's player had not yet made it. "It's crazy how many underdogs are winning Grand Slam titles at the moment," said Swiatek at the victory ceremony. At a location that a Polish daily newspaper quickly renamed: Poland Garros.