Krawietz and Mies in London: "Every day is still like an adventure"
German doubles climbers Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies are still wondering about their crazy year 2019 - and want to cause a furore on Monday at the ATP Finals.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Nov 11, 2019, 07:59 am
It's still a special moment for even the biggest in the industry. The moment they march into the London O2 Arena, the huge event palace in the east of the metropolis. Nearly 20,000 people always come to the afternoon session of the Tennis World Cup, another 20,000 then to the evening show.
Alexander Zverev, the German defending champion, is in for the third time at the atmospheric season finale, he plays on Monday evening in the opening-crackers equal to Rafael Nadal, it is a match that already give information about Zverevs chances for a successful cup mission could. But the real sensation of this World Cup edition 2019 is that Zverev is not the only German in London. No, a second German soloist does not enter the race for the most valuable trophy beyond the Grand Slam tournaments.
"What is going on here?"
But two artists in the doubles, who a year ago could not even dream of becoming a power factor in the tour business: Kevin Krawietz, a reticent, 27-year-old Franke, who had almost disappeared again in the sinking after strong junior times. And Andreas Mies, a bright 29-year-old Rhinelander, who made the way to the tour business late on the US college tennis. Twelve months ago, at this time, their season had already ended, at Second League competitions. And now, after a catapult leap into the limelight, they are fighting for the World Cup crown - and despite everything that has happened to them recently, they can not really grasp it. "Not a day goes by that I ask myself: what's going on here," says Mies, the spokesman for the duo, "we are looking forward to the next days. So far, we've only seen it on TV. "
A few weeks ago, a recent biography once again focused on the miraculous career of Miroslav Klose. Shortly before the turn of the century, he played in fifth-rate amateur clubs around Kaiserslautern, 2002 then, felt a minuteness later, he was in the national team, which lost the World Cup final against Brazil. At Krawietz and Mies the track turbo accelerated even on even higher tours. In 2018, practically nobody knew her in big tennis, from time to time she played at smaller tour competitions, rarely at grand slams, but mostly at Challenger tournaments. "We were simply not on the radar of the public, as well as," says Krawietz, the rather quieter contemporary. Germany had a top-double at the time, but it consisted of Tim Pütz and Jan-Lennard Struff - the so-called Tim and Struffi duo.
"We came out of nowhere, we even shook our heads"
That Krawietz and Mies now start at the World Cup and in a week, after the London show of strength, represent Germany at the Davis Cup final tournament, began in two legendary Paris weeks in the spring - at the French Open. When they sank to the ground at the end of the tournament, in magical synchrony, as the first German double winners in a Grand Slam since 1937, was perhaps the biggest German tennis surprise since the Wimbledon coup by Boris Becker in July 1985 Perfect. Krawietz and Mies played with dreamlike security, increasingly with the feeling "that nothing can go wrong" (Mies) - and in the final they had really arrived in the famous "Zone", in a tennis intoxication. Unstoppable, irresistible, indomitable. In a difficult German tennis season, in which Angelique Kerber and also Alexander Zverev stumbled, now they, the tennis brothers on the pitch and in spirit, were the winners. And the phenomenon of the scene. "We came out of nowhere. We shook our heads ourselves. And many others too, "says Mies.
Who flies as high as Krawietz and Mies, can also fall deeply. And for a while, it actually looked as if the two pair specialists could fall back into the pecking order - the level and meaning they had before the Paris triumph. Heavy weeks followed after the French Open. First-round defeats, doubts, anxieties. "One says to oneself: Everything is close together, victories and defeats. But one also wonders: was that again, "says Krawietz. Suddenly, even the "simplest things" would not have worked ", remembers partner Mies:" You are not stuck so easy. That's going to get you kidding. "He could objectively assess the whole thing, with the statement," that our opponents had also better observed and studied us. That they just took us much more seriously. "But, Mies said," that did not make it any better. Not at first, anyway. "
The fact that they both did not have an easy time over many difficult years in professional tennis eventually helped them through the crisis. They once again grew up with the challenge of finding their way back into the road to success with the challenge of confirming their attack-like Parisian victory. "The journey has just become more demanding. And we have found solutions to move forward, "says Mies." We said to ourselves: we have the quality to be at the forefront. We're not allowed to buckle in the headwind. "Now they are in London, now both in the top ten of the double world ranking list. They are well established in the industry without being established. And to be in the head. "Every day is still like an adventure," says Krawietz. Who knows what will bloom in London for him, his partner Mies and the German tennis fans.