Court 13, Stade Roland Garros, on Thursday afternoon. Only a handful of spectators cheered Altmaier’s victory when he used his first match ball against the number 30 in the world, Jan-Lennard Struff, after 2:32 hours. The sensation was perfect, Altmaier’s triumphal march at the French Open continues. And by the way, Altmaier is celebrating the biggest triumph of his career so far by reaching the third round.
Big cheers? Nothing! One could undoubtedly have assumed that the two Germans have just finished a training session. Almost without emotion, Altmaier walked towards the network and said goodbye to Struff with a pat on the back. Of course the joy was huge, but his respect for the opponent is too great. “I’ve known him since I was 14, 15 years old,” said the 22-year-old qualifier. “I knew it was going to be a very mental game.” And he jokingly added: “I am a machine.”
The outsider from Kempen on the Lower Rhine showed a courageous and almost flawless performance against the German number two from the start. While Struff seemed a bit inhibited, Altmaier played carefree. Altmaier secured the first set after 40 minutes.
Altmaier plagued by numerous injuries
In the second half, Struff seemed to find his way into the game a little better and made an early break. But when he served to win the set at 5: 4, he gave up his service himself and lost the set in the tiebreak. Now Altmaier was unstoppable. No trace of stage fright. “It’s a big stage, it’s a Grand Slam tournament, it’s about a lot of money and a lot of points. But I just tried to ignore that”, said Altmaier.
The North Rhine-Westphalian was considered a great talent from a young age. Altmaier began playing tennis at the age of five in his native Kempen. In 2008 he became German champion in the U10 age group and went through some training programs of the German Tennis Association (DTB) in his youth. Between 2016 and 2017 he achieved his first minor successes on the ITF World Tennis Tour, the lowest category in professional tennis.
