Jule Niemeier: The German Wimbledon sensation
Quelle: dpa/Kirsty Wigglesworth
Jule Niemeier caused the biggest surprise of the tournament in Wimbledon. National coach Barbara Rittner predicts effects on the self-confidence of the 22-year-olds – and is directly confirmed.
An the sofa, women’s national coach Barbara Rittner experienced a “good day” with a view of the grass classic in Wimbledon. Due to a corona infection, the 49-year-old currently has to do without a trip to London, but was able to look forward to three German tennis players making it into the third round in front of the television.
Among them, to everyone’s surprise, was Jule Niemeier, who threw the number two seeding list out of the tournament in a 6-4, 6-0 win against Anett Kontaveit from Estonia: “Jule played her best tennis on the big stage at the right time. That will give her a lot of self-confidence for the rest of the tournament, but also for her career in general,” Rittner believes, “she has the game: she can serve well, has a powerful forehand, the backhand slice, she can go to the net a good feeling in the hand. In my opinion she can play with the best on any surface on a good day.”
The moment of success: Jule Niemeier celebrates on Court No.1 after 58 minutes
Quelle: AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth
The 22-year-old had acknowledged the greatest moment of her young career with disbelief. After the match point, she threw away her racket, put her hands on her head and stared in disbelief with her mouth open at the wide circle of Court No.1 in Wimbledon, before joy broke out in uncontrolled leaps of joy and she threw her strong arms in the air stretched.
In her first duel with a top ten player, the Dortmund player delivered a top performance in front of an unusually large crowd, which also impressed Angelique Kerber. “I’m happy for her, she did really well,” said the German number one, who watched the second set before her own match. The 34-year-old had more trouble than Niemeier, but also completed her task in the 6: 3, 6: 3 against Magda Linette from Poland without any major problems.
Satisfied with her own performance: Angelique Kerber is in the third round of Wimbledon
Source: dpa/Frank Molter
“A solid match from me,” said Kerber, who is now in the top 32 for the ninth time at the classic lawn. “I’m trying to constantly play my lawn tennis, to remain aggressive even in the important moments.” After 85 minutes, the Kiel native converted her first match point and this year in Wimbledon is still without losing a set.
In June, Niemeier celebrated her first tournament victory
Even without losing serve, Niemeier has played through the tournament so far. In the second largest Wimbledon stadium, Niemeier showed no nerves and kept up with Kontaveit. With overview and wit, she put her opponent under pressure and used her second set point after 32 minutes. Kontaveit showed nerves, conceded another break due to a double fault right at the beginning of the second set. Niemeier pulled away easily and mercilessly exploited her opponent’s weaknesses. “Very strong and let’s keep going,” congratulated Rittner. For the biggest success of her career, Niemeier collects more than 138,000 euros and meets Lessia Zurenko from Ukraine on Friday.
Last year, Niemeier narrowly missed making it into the main draw and, after the French Open a month ago, is only taking part in a Grand Slam for the second time. “I’m trying to absorb everything here, I still don’t quite know where to go,” she said before the match about her experience at Wimbledon, where she also admired Rafael Nadal during training. At the beginning of June, the BVB fan won the first title on the WTA tour at the tournament in Makarska, Croatia.
“I’m speechless to be honest. Winning the game on Court 1 in Wimbledon is a great feeling,” said Niemeier during the winner’s interview on the court. A little later she was self-confident in her dry manner: “I think I can actually beat almost every opponent who is here. I showed that today as well.”
Powerhouse: So far, Jule Niemeier has mainly been able to rely on her serve
What: AFP/GLYN KIRK
The good German result was rounded off by Tatjana Maria. The 34-year-old reached the third round for the second time after 2015 with a 6: 3, 1: 6, 7: 5 against the Romanian Sorana Cirstea. “A masterpiece of tactics,” said Rittner on the sofa at home. “It was an up and down,” summarized the mother of two herself. “It means a lot to me. 2015 was the first Wimbledon with (daughter) Charlotte. And now it’s the first time I’ve played Wimbledon with two children.” Maria now faces a very difficult task against Greece’s number five seed Maria Sakkari.
Oscar Otte went much faster into the next round. Opponent Christian Harrison from the USA gave up after only 15 minutes at a score of 3:1 for Otte in the first set. The last DTB professional left in the field, the German number one in Wimbledon without the injured Alexander Zverev, is now dealing with young star Carlos Alcaraz.
