Kevin Krawietz marched out of the mighty o2 arena with a frustrated look, Andreas Mies waved to his girlfriend in disappointment and then followed: The dream of the German world-class double of the next entry in the history books is over. The two-time French Open winners missed the semifinals of the ATP Finals in London.
The duo from Coburg and Cologne lost in the decisive preliminary round match Rajeev Ram / Joe Salisbury from the USA and Great Britain with 6: 7 (5: 7), 7: 6 (4: 7), 4:10. The fact remains that no German doubles have reached the semifinals in the annual finals.
“It wasn’t our best match,” said Krawietz: “We tried to fight, give our all. In the end it was a bit unfortunate.” Mies was certain: “If we win the first set, we’ll win the match. All in all, we left too many chances here.”
Krawietz / Mies failed in the group stage last year
Test DAZN for free and experience tennis highlights live & on demand | DISPLAY
Last year, Krawietz / Mies failed in the group stage. Now they just missed the second place they needed in an extremely close third match in the “Mike Bryan” group. The German world class doubles lacked a spark of consistency and fortune in the crucial situations to continue playing for the next prestigious title.
Before the tournament started, “Kramies” made no secret of their great ambitions. The goal was to win “all the important titles”, Mies had said. Both still felt carried by the euphoria of their second French Open coup on October 10th in their “magical place” Paris. And they wanted to keep surfing the wave in London too. In their first two duels they had indicated their class, but for the group final it was necessary to add a little more.
The duo lost out in the match tiebreaker
Not only the former Davis Cup captain Patrik Kühnen observed a “nervous start” of both teams into the match on the Sky microphone. But Krawietz / Mies stabilized earlier in the first sentence. Krawietz, who also helped out in a supermarket during the month-long corona break, made it 4-2 after several breaks, but then “Kramies” gave two set balls and finally the lead again. Krawietz made a double fault in the tie-break to make it 5: 6, then Salisbury closed the first round with an ace.
Very annoying for the German professionals, but they quickly found their focus again. Krawietz played a strong service game, but initially left out subsequent break chances. In the almost empty o2 arena there was now high tension, both doubles served consistently, and extra time had to decide again. Again, Krawietz and Mies worked out two set balls and this time used the first.
So after a short break, the match tiebreaker started, in which the German doubles quickly trailed behind and finally had to congratulate their opponents in frustration.
