Australian Open: Carl-Uwe Steeb: This is what German tennis is suffering from Sports

German tennis in crisis! Both Australian Open in Melbourne only one player made it to the 3rd round and got kicked out. Why is that? What might have to change in German tennis?

Ex-professional Carl-Uwe Steeb (55) to BILD: “Tennis is expensive, the investment is large, it’s not that easy to finance. There must be ways that as few talents as possible fall through the cracks just because the family cannot afford the sport.”

The current situation is alarming. “In our time we were ten women and ten men in the main draw. We’re a long way from that. It lacks the breadth that we have five to ten players aged 20 to 25 who are in the starting blocks. And among those who are there, there are too few who can make the top 10 or top 20,” said the three-time Davis Cup winner.

Alexander Zverev (25), who is one of the absolute best in the world when he is not recovering from an injury like he is now, has no one who can even remotely challenge him for number 1 in Germany. At the moment nobody believes that one of the Altmaier, Otte etc. will make it into the top 20.

For women it is a little different. Jule Niemeier (23) and Eva Lys (21) are said to have great potential, which Niemeier has already demonstrated with the quarter-finals in Wimbledon. The field for women is denser than it has been for a long time. Both can make it into the top 20.

Also, the three juniors in Melbourne all made it past the first round, while the only junior in the field was eliminated straight away. Among the girls, Sonja Shijenbaeva (16) even has a talent who is trying to be successful without the support of the German Tennis Association (DTB).

“You have to work very intensively with the people very early on. The DTB also supports that. A breadth needs to be created by scouting more intensely where clubs and tournaments are being revived. You compete in a lot more sports than we did in the 80’s. It’s difficult, of course, and tennis hasn’t gotten any cheaper,” Steeb knows. “The local coaches have to inspire the kids. That’s where the talent comes from.”

But not only the width of the offspring is a problem. According to Steeb, the Bundesliga is also no longer a good place for training. “The players in the Bundesliga used to earn good money, then the Bosman ruling came and there were more than just one foreigner per team. Before that, Germans could compete with others and also earn a little something. Today there are hardly any chances for Germans to gain a foothold there,” he says.

At the same time, the tournament landscape needs to be expanded, especially in Germany. “More children’s, youth and future tournaments in this country would be important, where the talents can get the first points for the world rankings in the latter. Traveling abroad is very expensive,” says Steeb, once DTB vice president himself.

And so, in the days of Melbourne, many tennis fans look enviously at the Americans, who had six pros in the round of 16. That’s how many Germans got kicked out in the 1st round on the first day. The USA benefits from its college system, which does not exist in Germany and probably never will.

“In the USA, the colleges play against each other all the time, they have tournaments. There are also Germans over there with Dominik Koepfer and Yannick Hanfmann. We won’t be able to build up the structures in Germany.” The Czech Republic, where women in particular have had countless top players in the past 15 years, also benefits from a school system that cannot exist in Germany due to the legal situation.

And so German tennis largely follows the music. Steeb: “In our time you could make the leap into world class at the age of 18 or 19, but that has shifted around the world. There are few exceptions like Iga Swiatek, Holger Rune or Carlos Alcaraz. Back then, we turned pro after school, which is hardly possible today.”