The tennis year 2020 from ... Yannick Hanfmann
We'll be highlighting the Player of the Year 2020 in December. We'll start with Yannick Hanfmann .
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Dec 01, 2020, 10:48 am
What happened until now...
Yannick Hanfmann from Karlsruhe first drew attention to himself in 2017: It was in Munich that the former college player from the USA made himself 273rd in the world. played from qualification to the quarterfinals, after victories over Gerald Melzer and Thomaz Bellucci. Followed by a round of 16 at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart and a sensational entry into the finals in Gstaad - here the then 25-year-old beat Feliciano Lopez, Joao Sousa and Robin Haase in a row before losing to Fabio Fognini in the final. The reward: 125th place. A year later, after winning the Challenger tournament in Braunschweig, Hanfmann cracked the top 100 for the first time.
Bitter: After that, Hanfmann was absent for six months. An injury to the right forearm ... His comeback was strong: Round 1 of the French Open 2019 was against Rafael Nadal, Hanfmann did a remarkable job. "There was a lot of media hype, that doesn't make it any easier - nice, but not easy," he said after the 2: 6, 1: 6 and 3: 6 defeat . But: "To be there on the pitch and close the balls feel that he is playing is unique. "In the world rankings it went down due to the many points lost and out of the top 200. This was followed by victories at the Challenger tournaments in Ludwigshafen and Augsburg, there after defending three match points in the final against Emil Ruusuvuori.
Hanfmann's year 2020 - a complete success
The man from Karlsruhe is starting the current season from 170th place - and should improve a lot despite the few tournaments. At the Australian Open, qualifying round 2 is over, but the following Challenger tournament in Burnie will make it to the finals (loss to the top seeded Taro Daniel). The Corona break follows - and Hanfmann should really take off during this!
At the German Pro Series he won the title , then, at the first "real" tournament , he won in Todi and played his way to the final at the Generali Open in Kitzbühel - the altitude, like in Gstaad, seems to be Hanfmann. In Hamburg a victory over Gael Monfils follows, in Sardinia over Casper Ruud - tantamount to returning to the top 100. And that although the Corona regulation is not advantageous for the newcomers of the year, because players who play less or not at all , no points were deducted from March. See: Roger Federer, who winters in the top 5 with just one tournament appearance in 2020 ...
The year 2020 ended Hanfmann in 98th place - and thus from an excellent position for 2021. The now 29-year-old already has the direct qualification for the main field of the Australian Open, it is the first time that Hanfmann "down under" in the main field get involved. And if he is lucky, he will be spared Rafa Nadal from Melbourne - Novak Djokovic - in round 1 ...
Yannick Hanfmann in 2020: The numbers
Match balance: 7: 3 on the ATP tour, 14: 8 on the Challenger tour
In the world rankings it went from position 172 to position 98 - an improvement from 74 positions!
Tournament wins: 1 (Todi Challenger)
Finals - on the ATP tour: 1 (Kitzbühel); on the Challenger Tour: 1 (Burnie)