Germany’s top tennis player Angelique Kerber (Kiel) has a solvable task waiting in the first round of the US Open. She meets the Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. It will be trickier for Alexander Zverev (Hamburg), who will play against Kevin Anderson at the beginning of the Grand Slam tournament in New York (from August 31). The South African is only number 124 in the world – but very experienced as a finalist in Wimbledon and at the US Open. Kerber is competing in New York without any competition practice, her last match on the tour so far was the knockout round at the Australian Open at the end of January. Zverev, however, returned to the tour this week at the Western & Southern Open after the Corona break. The world number seven had already lost his opening game there against the three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray (Scotland).
Numerous professionals are foregoing a start in the USA, which is particularly plagued by the pandemic, the most prominent names from Germany are former Wimbledon semi-finalists Julia Görges (Bad Oldesloe) and Andrea Petkovic (Darmstadt). The two defending champions Bianca Andreescu (Canada) and Rafael Nadal (Spain) as well as world number one Ashleigh Barty (Australia) and Wimbledon winner Simona Halep (Romania) are also missing.
From a German perspective, five women and five men are in the main field at the US Open. Of them, Laura Siegemund is considered an outsider against the Belgian Elise Mertens. Dominik Koepfer (Furtwangen) plays against the number 24, Taylor Fritz from the USA, Peter Gojowczyk (Munich) against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (No. 29).
© SZ vom 28.08.2020 / sid
.
