Philipp Kohlschreiber - tournament withdrawal and approaching farewell
Philipp Kohlschreiber could not compete against Stefanos Tsitsipas for his second round match at the Australian Open 2020 . The long-standing German number one may be at a crossroads.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Jan 22, 2020, 11:35 am
On good days, tennis veteran Philipp Eberhard Hermann Kohlschreiber can still annoy the good and better in the tennis world. The third Grand Slam Day in Melbourne could have been one of those good days, Kohlschreiber was against the incumbent ATP World Champion Stefanos Tsitsipas, the young, 21-year-old Greek with the appearance of the Messiah. But this tingling generation duel didn't even happen in Melbourne, Kohlschreiber (36) declared his withdrawal from the Australian Open in the morning because of a painful abdominal muscle injury. "If every movement hurts you, it makes no sense," said Kohlschreiber, "you have to draw the tear line."
It was a bitter moment for Kohlschreiber, for several reasons. There was the memory of the many months of last year in which Kohlschreiber struggled with hip problems and then very painful back problems as a migrant worker in the tour business. Kohlschreiber lost a lot of games, a lot of games, and because the “balance between winning and losing” was no longer correct, he eventually got tired of the whole job. "You start to ponder," says Kohlschreiber, one who had bravely held up the flag as the number one German for many years. At a time when Tommy Haas and Nicolas Kiefer had stopped and when there was still no talk of the new hope Alexander Zverev.
Kohlschreiber looks into the unknown
Now Kohlschreiber had prepared himself again for the new year with all the necessary self-discipline and meticulousness, with fresh courage and gripping attitude too. And this new year had also started off badly - while his national colleagues could hardly convince at the ATP Cup, the veteran won a well-organized Challenger tournament in Bendigo, Australia. He also moved up a few places in the world rankings, temporarily to 74th place. He also won a round in Melbourne, but early on when he beat the American Marcos Giron he felt "a sting in the stomach." "Excitement and adrenaline" would have pushed the pain away, said Kohlschreiber, "then I ended it happily."
But the "great challenge" against Tsitsipas was denied him, a tear in the abdominal muscle was diagnosed by the tournament doctors. There was also the recommendation not to continue playing in the tournament. "Of course it's bitter," says Kohlschreiber, "because I don't know how many times I can still compete here." Kohlschreiber looks a little into the unknown when he looks ahead, over the next few months, about his career in general. He wanted to continue until the end of 2021, with little ambition, a gentle end. But a year with a lot of injuries, an eternal fight against his own body, he doesn't want to do anymore either, says Kohlschreiber, "then the end would come closer." Then it could be that one day he would find out for himself: "That was it "
Here is the single tableau at the Australian Open
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