Jule Niemeier is still ranked 108th in the world. That will change after her strong performance at the US Open. But jumping into the top 100 shouldn’t be enough for her.
Success in what was only her third Grand Slam tournament made her want more. “Just because I’ve played one or two good tournaments doesn’t mean it’s the end,” said the powerful Niemeier, who above all wants to continue working on her fitness.
Rittner: Fitness was the deciding factor against Swiatek
According to national coach Barbara Rittner, fitness was the decisive factor in the round of 16 in New York against world number one Iga Swiatek (Poland): “She dominated the number one in the world for an hour. After that she ran out of strength.” , Rittner praised her at Eurosport. A plausible analysis, since Niemeier had lost the decision-making process to zero.
What should give the 23-year-old from Dortmund a lot of self-confidence, however, was the first set, in which she dominated the currently best player in the world 6-2. Players who are ranked 108th in the WTA world rankings rarely achieve this. This sentence should now be her benchmark: “If I can play that against the number one in the world, then I can also do that against the others,” said the 23-year-old. “If I can keep that constant over the next few months and years, I can become very, very dangerous on the tour and beat a lot of good players.”
Process frustration first, then feel pride
After Wimbledon, where Niemeier narrowly lost in a German duel in the quarterfinals to Tatjana Maria (6: 4, 2: 6, 5: 7), she now had her second strong Grand Slam appearance at the US Open. At the French Open, after qualifying, she failed in three sets against Sloane Stephens (USA), and at the Australian Open the qualification ended at the beginning of the year.
In 2022, the Dortmund woman also has two tournament wins on her account – one on the ITF (Zagreb) and one on the Challenger Tour (Makarska). A tournament success on the big WTA stage should only be a matter of time in view of the strong performances in Wimbeldon and New York.
In the days after her defeat against Swiatek, it will be important for the 23-year-old to put the “frustration” behind her: “But if I reflect on it a bit in the next few days and calm down, it will also be a bit Be proud of it,” says Niemeier. Then she will probably be happy about her jump in the world rankings. Qualifying rounds at the big tournaments – like in the first half of the year – shouldn’t be an issue for the German for the time being.
