He should fix it in New York: Alexander Zverev Image: EPA
After the first two tournament days of the US Open, the black, red and gold naysayers could pick up the thick paintbrush again. But if you don’t get carried away, you will discover rays of hope in the tennis wonderland.
Somehow you got used to the fact that things are going more badly than well in German tennis. Nothing apart from Zverev, that’s the same meager record from one Grand Slam tournament to the next. And if even the Olympic champion does not meet the requirements, as a few weeks ago in Wimbledon failed early and thus no compatriot reached the second week of the tournament, then the German misery is particularly great: There is a lack of talent with bite, it is said, and If one does appear, then it is being wrongly promoted by the association and does its Abitur anyway before it cautiously tries to be a latecomer on the professional tour.
The black, red and gold naysayers could pick up the thick brush again after the first two tournament days of the US Open. From the quite manageable circle of four men and five women who even made it into the main draw in New York, five left after the first round, on Tuesday with clear results: Tatjana Maria (2: 6, 1: 6 against Petra Martić), Anna-Lena Friedsam (3:6, 1:6 against Jelina Switolina) and Yannick Hanfmann (3:6, 1:6, 1:6 against Jannik Sinner) belong on Dominik Koepfer’s black list of sporty slippers not against it.
