In the past few years, Sabine Lisicki has been a case for popular columns such as “What does it actually do…?” Model known as “boom-boom-bine”, had slowly disappeared from the scene.
In 2016 she dropped out of the top 100 in the world rankings. Gone was the glory of yore, when she won four WTA tournaments with her smashing serves and powerful groundstroke, made it to 12th in the world rankings and smiled through wins and losses. Injuries kept throwing the Troisdorf native back, most recently she suffered a cruciate ligament rupture at the end of 2020 and was unable to compete in a tournament for 18 months.
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Instead of Instagram photos on crutches, the now 32-year-old Lisicki should soon be showing more cheerful pictures of the most important tennis courts. The tournament in Berlin will be the beginning of the return to the big professional stage in two weeks, as the organizers of the LTTC “Rot-Weiss” announced this Friday. They give the German a wildcard; not for the main field, in addition Lisicki’s world ranking 1127 is a bit far away from the world’s best, which, led by the world number one Iga Swiatek and the Japanese superstar Naomi Osaka, open almost closed at the Hundekehlesee.
The German will be provided with a free ticket for the qualification, in which she will compete for the first time on Saturday, June 11th and can make her way into the main draw. “I am very happy that Berlin will be part of my comeback on the WTA Tour. It’s great that I can play in front of a home crowd in my home club,” said Lisicki.
Lisicki’s long way back
In the past few weeks, the former German Fed Cup player had tried two lower-class clay court tournaments in Florida. In Bonita Springs she survived the first round, in Sarasota she had to give up in the quarterfinals. “We are happy to be able to support Sabine on her way back,” says the Berlin tournament director Barbara Rittner, who, as the national coach of the German tennis women, was always very close to the ups and downs in Lisicki’s career.
There is no telling whether Sabine Lisicki’s home game will be a success. The performance for the two-time Sportswoman of the Year in Berlin will definitely be a pleasure, as she can play on the lawn she loves.
