French Open: After his surprise victory, the German cries for minutes on the court

As of 7:27 p.m | Reading time: 4 minutes

AWhen he was able to speak again and the tears of joy were wiped away, Daniel Altmaier tried to classify his performance: “I don’t know if it was a historic match, there have been so many of them in history,” said the 24-year-old Tennis pro in an interview with Marion Bartoli, “but it was definitely one to remember”.

Nobody will contradict him. With his victory at the end of a great tennis drama, he had made no less than a sensation perfect. The German reached the third round at the French Open in a five-set thriller against Italian title contender Jannik Sinner. After 5:26 hours he made the 6: 7 (0: 7), 7: 6 (9: 7), 1: 6, 7: 6 (7: 4), 7: 5 perfect with an ace.

“The win means a lot to me. We put a lot of work into it,” said Altmaier, who had saved two match points in the fourth round and celebrated one of the greatest successes of his career. Already in the first round of the US Open 2022 he had forced Sinner into five sentences – at that time with the better end for the South Tyrolean. Against the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrow, Altmaier is now concerned with reaching the round of 16: “That’s a big break in my career. And we still have a lot planned.”

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Shortly before, Anna-Lena Friedsam failed as the last German starter in the women’s competition in the second round. The 29-year-old from Andernach lost to the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrowa after just 62 minutes 2:6, 0:6 and largely had no chance. Previously, Jule Niemeier and Tatjana Maria had already left at the start.

Altmaier’s tears after the triumph

Altmaier then managed a coup similar to that in 2020, when he defeated the highly rated Italian Matteo Berrettini and reached the round of 16 in a Grand Slam for the only time in his career. This success was also the previous only win against a player from the top ten in the world rankings.

Altmaier started stable and was at times 4:3 ahead with a break. After losing the tie-break to zero, he had the middle finger of his left hand treated longer. The ice therapy helped, and Altmaier, with strong nerves, converted the fifth chance to win the second set with an overhead ball after more than two hours.

Sinner seemed vulnerable, but initially turned up the heat. In just 27 minutes, Altmaier saw the third set gone. Altmaier emphasized before the game that he did not see his only second second-round game as a bonus. “If that were a reward, I wouldn’t need to go out on the pitch.”

And he continued to show great fighting spirit in the fourth round. But again the world number 79. not taking advantage of a break. Altmaier fended off the first match point with a net scooter and saved himself in the new tie-break. “I just tried to keep playing at that moment and block out everything else,” he later said. Altmaier, he got the sentence with a fine volley stop – this round alone lasted 90 minutes.

In the fifth round, a real clay court drama developed. Altmaier served to win at a score of 5: 4, and suddenly his nerves trembled. But again he took the serve from Sinner and gained the advantage of being able to cross the finish line on his own serve.

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But despite being 40:0 and 6:5 in the fifth set, the German had to go into extra time again, had to go through the debut, but fought for match point number four. He was at the net and went for a smash, but gave his opponent another return and then the point.

The match threatened to tip over several times. The last game alone lasted more than twelve minutes before Altmaier converted his fifth match point and was then overwhelmed by his tears. He cried uncontrollably on the court to the applause and chants of the audience. It took minutes before the interview could begin. A fitting conclusion to this memorable match.