NAfter the small start last year under Corona conditions, the big premiere of the Bad Homburg Open was also a success. The 3,500-seat Center Court was sold out on almost all tournament days, the freely accessible match courts were well attended, the supporting program and the pleasure mile with food and drink at affordable prices attracted additional visitors to the Kurpark.
The organizers rightly received a lot of praise for the feel-good atmosphere in the countryside, including from those around whom everything revolved. As the tournament winner, Caroline Garcia was satisfied with herself and the environment anyway, and the fact that she considered the elephant that gives the cup the shape of Bad Homburg’s symbol and also didn’t know that her colleague Angelique Kerber was the tournament ambassador was what made her visit the first time forgivable.
Wimbledon is just Wimbledon
“Great place, great places, great organization,” praised star trainer Patrick Mouratoglou, who looked after Serena Williams for years and now accompanies Simona Halep: “Perhaps one of the best tournaments of the year.” Despite all the exuberance expressed by Mouratoglou: There is something better than Bad Homburg-Wimbledon. The fact that Halep did not appear in the semi-finals last Friday because of a suddenly stiff neck can safely be understood as a precautionary measure before the highlight of the season. Bad Homburg is all well and good, but Wimbledon is Wimbledon.
The supposed advantage of being a preparatory tournament for the great classic can quickly become a disadvantage for the German lawn competitions in Berlin and Bad Homburg. Because when in doubt, the tennis stars concentrate on Wimbledon and do not go to extremes in the days before to keep the risk of injury as low as possible. This is why the reported professionals suffer injuries overnight, which allegedly make it impossible to start or continue playing. Such behavior may seem understandable and professional from the point of view of the players, but it is annoying for the organizers and disappointing for spectators, who were promised a squad of ambitious Grand Slam tournament winners.
After train numbers like world number one Iga Swiatek had previously canceled in Berlin, the Bad Homburg Open Stars also lost in a row: Before the tournament started, first Grand Slam champion Viktoria Asarenka and top seed Aryna Sabalenka canceled, then Olympic champion Belinda Bencic had to pass because she injured herself in the Berlin final, shortly before her first match, Veronika Kudermetowa, who was five seeded, resigned, before the semifinals Halep.
In Berlin, tournament director Barbara Rittner had criticized the great selfishness of the players and their managers and called for more responsibility for the weal and woe of a WTA tournament. However, the German women’s national coach rejected penalties for reporting cheerfully and then not starting.
The fact that the preparatory tournaments have to reckon with many unknowns is also due to the forbearance of the women’s (WTA) and men’s (ATP) professional organizations. They don’t want to spoil things for themselves with their stars and shrug their shoulders and accept every medical certificate. For the spectators and organizers this means: The fields of participants are always to be regarded as provisional – nasty surprises included. In the worst case, spectators who have paid 90 euros for a ticket will only see a semi-final like last Friday in Bad Homburg. That remains the downer at the tennis festival in the Kurpark.
