German tennis year 2020: two Grand Slam titles, a surprising farewell and many question marks
German tennis has had an eventful 2020: There were two Grand Slam victories to celebrate, but there was also the farewell to Julia Görges to cope with. And the headlines off the court of Alexander Zverev.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Nov 22, 2020, 11:15 am
When Alexander Zverev lost the World Cup semi-finals against Dominic Thiem last year, his world was very manageable, very clear for the near future. Zverev packed his bags in London and went on vacation to the Maldives for two weeks. And then he started his preparations for 2020, which would start in Australia with the new ATP Cup in early January. The motto was plausible: First of all, see and hear nothing about tennis, and then turn all your senses back to tennis.
After his last appearance at the 2020 World Cup on Friday evening, this time in the third group game against Novak Djokovic, a lot is nebulous about Zverev, who is seventh in the world rankings - only the holiday destination has initially remained the same, the sunny Maldives, which Zverev now with the Family of his brother Misha will head for. But what comes after the vacation trip, not only for Zverev, by the way, but also for all German tennis professionals?
Nobody knows at the moment that the Australian Open, it seems, will probably not take place on the regular date in mid-January. It is just as unclear whether there will be preparatory tournaments at all, and if so, which ones. It could be that Zverev and most of the comrades in the tennis caravan will spend Christmas in their homeland for the first time in a long time - in a more or less strict lockdown.
Zverev's wishes for 2021? "Three Grand Slam titles and a healthy baby"
Zverev's end at the ATP finals was also the international end of the tennis season for the top German professionals. The 23-year-old from Hamburg provided most of the topics of conversation until the fall, when he initially only failed extremely thinly at the first Grand Slam coup at the US Open. And when the headlines about fatherhood and domestic violence made the rounds, it was about two former girlfriends. What he would like from 2021, the future father Zverev was asked on Friday after his World Cup failure. His answer: “Three Grand Slam titles and a healthy baby.” He did not explicitly express the wish to leave the so-called “Olga case”, the violent allegations of his Russian ex, behind. Zverev surely suspects that the subject will not leave him anytime soon, especially when at some point, after the era of the "haunted houses", larger audiences flock to the arenas again - and he has to reckon with open aversion from fans.
Nevertheless, there were two Grand Slam titles for Germany in the 2020 season, first from Laura Siegemund in the alliance with veteran Vera Zvonareva at the US Open in New York. And then, as sensational as last spring, Allianz Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies defended their title at the late French Open in autumnal Paris. Boris Becker called the successful duo “devil guys” who presumably still have a few years to go to realize an ambitious goal: “We want to win all the big trophies at least once.”
Görges is the first of the "golden generation" to step down
However, 2020 was also a year with a wistful note in German women's tennis. Because with the sudden resignation of the national player Julia Görges after the French Open, the end of the golden generation was announced, i.e. the quartet that included Angelique Kerber, Andrea Petkovic and Sabine Lisicki as well as Görges. Kerber, the three-time Grand Slam winner, only played a pale supporting role in this turbulent series, it never really got going after the long forced break. While Kerber's departure is not yet scheduled, but should not be a long way off, Petkovic will end after the coming season. She actually wanted to quit in 2020, but postponed the end of her career because of the Corona errors.
As in previous years, Lisicki remained the unlucky German tennis player during the pandemic season. After long months of untiringly fighting to get back to the top of the world, she suffered a cruciate ligament rupture at the very last WTA event in 2020 in Linz. Lisicki, the Wimbledon finalist of 2013, has the biggest and most complicated task of all ahead of her in 2021 - the mission of a new injury comeback after countless comeback attempts.
How are Struff, Koepfer, Altmaier and Co. doing?
The prospects for the German men look far more positive. Behind Zverev, who classified his year 2020 as “film-ready”, the basis has broadened. In addition to Jan-Lennard Struff and Dominik Koepfer, Daniel Altmaier suddenly appeared as a new player who raised fresh hopes with his round of 16 at the US Open. In addition, with Yannick Hanfmann, Yannick Maden, Oscar Otte, Peter Gojowczyk and Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, there are other players from the second row who are always good for surprises.
All of them, whether Zverev and Co., whether Kerber and Co., will have to fight their way through another tennis year in which surprises will be the order of the day - twists and turns that no one can foresee. It could begin in Australia at the beginning of the season.