French Open: Jan-Lennard Struff - The end of comfort
Jan-Lennard Struff put an exclamation mark on Tuesday with the success against Andrey Rublev. The German Davis Cup player can go far in Roland Garros.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Jun 02, 2021, 02:42 pm
On the evening of his biggest tennis day in Paris to date, Jan-Lennard Struff thought he could congratulate himself once again on his amazing moment of triumph. Andrey Rublev, his opponent, was definitely a "chunk", a "real edge", someone who would even have been "a secret favorite on the list of some". But Struff is meanwhile also someone who no one in the touring circuit can trust anymore. And everything can be trusted. Unlike in his younger years, Struff can now, as a mature force on the tennis tour, also make the apparently impossible things possible. Not always, but often enough. Just like at this French Open 2021: With 2-0 sets, Struff was in the front against the world number seven from Russia, then he conceded the 2-2 set compensation by the Muscovite.
But Struff (ATP ranking 42) put up with the counterattack, with fighting spirit, with perseverance, with self-confidence. With the qualities that characterize the mature, new Struff. "A brutally awesome victory," said Struff after marching 6: 3, 7: 6, 4: 6, 3: 6 and 6: 4 across the finish line. First victory also against a top ten man in one of the four major competitions, plus the seventh consecutive match win over five sets, also the strongest moment so far in this not easy Corona season - Struff was once really satisfied: "I'm flat, but damn happy ", he said," that was a mega-experience. "Now it is round two for one of the few DTB winners in the current Roland Garros slide exercises against the Argentine Facundo Bagnis, number 104 in the tennis charts.
Struff was Struffi
If you heard the name Struff in the tennis business in the past, it was associated with a good-natured, amiable, sometimes a little quirky giant who quietly hid in the middle of the tour business. Struff was Struffi, a man who definitely had his ambitions, but who was not tough enough for the industry and its challenges, not determined and determined enough. Usually the last ten or twenty percent that distinguishes a good player from a successful and very good player was missing in his matches. Struff, who is now 31 years old from the Sauerland, had a mentality problem. And an earnings problem. “I clearly made too little of my potential at the time,” says Struff.
Struff's story only got a new twist when the former German Davis Cup boss Carsten Arriens switched to his side. Struff's phlegm, his stoicism, his overall somewhat cozy appearance disappeared. Instead, with the help of his coach, the giant discovered completely different sides of himself, he became more combative, significantly more ambitious, more aggressive in a duel. And he won more and more often, preferably in the Davis Cup games for Germany. “I really got the self-confidence for the tour,” says Struff, “those were games that I loved. In front of your own fans, in a murderous mood. "
Winner in marathons against Coric and now Rublev
Struff's path is no longer so unusual in an industry in which the time horizons for careers have long since shifted. The Warsteiner is just one of many late-career professionals who experience their best professional phase around thirty, when after a long search, after doubts and problems, “the puzzle fits together”, as Davis Cup boss Michael Kohlmann says. Struff finally uses his powerful serve more precisely and precisely, also against Rublev he hammered 25 aces into his opponent's field. It was also a reminder of another big performance in Paris, exactly two years ago to the day, at the same place of work, Court 14 in the Roland Garros stadium area. At the beginning of June 2019 he fought his way through to the French Open round of 16 in a four and a half hour marathon over five sets against the up-and-coming Croatian young star Borna Coric, so he was able to meet with industry leader Novak Djokovic . “It was an important day for me,” recalls Struff, “I just believed in myself more than ever before. I knew I can really beat very impressive opponents. "
After months of the season that were not always satisfactory, Struff is now reviving with the gradual return of the old tennis feeling. Against Rublev, he also felt inspired by the fan support. When a wave of La Ola went around on the beautiful outside court in the fifth movement, the German had “real goosebumps.” The bubble existence, the necessary asceticism of recent times had “sometimes been hard on him”, even “a little” mad ”. "I think we all have better days ahead of us now," said Struff. At all. And also in the small, large world of tennis.
Here the single tableau in Roland Garros
rgmap